


In His Footsteps

by Skriiven



Category: Homestuck
Genre: During the Sufferer's revolution, M/M, Set in Alternia, Swearing I suppose, Universe Alteration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-12
Updated: 2013-08-10
Packaged: 2017-12-14 19:05:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/840328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skriiven/pseuds/Skriiven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if things had been different?  The Sufferer's revolution told through their children's eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Like the tags said, this takes place with during the ancestor's timeline. Sometimes what I write can be a little confusing or not clear so if you're curious enough, don't be shy and ask any questions you may have, or just chat me up, it'd be a wonderful break from all my chem studying. I tried to keep it as canon as possible, please forgive me for any mishaps along the way.
> 
> Characters © Hussie

Kankri looked over the horizon; black curls being tousled gently by the breeze. He stood in his family’s farm field, a large bag of seeds resting against his leg. He had spent the night planting the new crops by hand, their vegetation-planting machine was currently malfunctioning, and he was incredibly sore from the tedious work. He couldn’t bring himself to mind it; he had been working there since he was three sweeps. At nine sweeps he had a high tolerance for pain. 

The rays of the sun were just beginning to show over the rolling hills and Kankri smiled softly, bright red eyes gazing across the distance. His eyes had turned half a sweep ago, as Karkat’s would be doing soon. It was the last major change his body would be undertaking, he could now officially call himself an adult. It was a gratifying and yet disappointing experience because he expected to feel something different but he was still the same as ever. 

When the burning mass of a star started actually peeking into existence he was forced to look away or risk becoming blind. They lived on an island completely their own, so small it was lost to the rest of Alternia. His family were the only inhabitants, each of them having separate jobs to sustain their solitary life. Kankri preferred working with the crops, as they didn’t complain if he talked and his younger brother Karkat worked with the creatures, since they were probably the only organisms that he didn’t rage at. Their father, the Signless, took care of everything else. Their farm was big enough to support their family through any rough weather, but small enough that they required no outside help.

They were all each other had, and this piece of land was their sanctuary. Kankri could still remember those early days when he was just a grub, growing up in the shadows, afraid every day would be his last, waiting to be culled because of his mutant blood. After completing the dangerous trials in the brooding cavern, there had been no lusus waiting for him. He was forced to survive on his own. A sweep later he had come across Karkat, and although he wasn’t in a good situation himself, he couldn’t leave Karkat on his own. They had stuck together after that, running from other trolls, picking through trash heaps in the city. They were brothers, regardless of what their culture dictated as family, and they would do anything for each other.

When Kankri was two and a half sweeps they were picked up by the Signless, who had once been in the same situation. He told them that he was passing on the favor by taking them in. They grew up as his sons. It wasn’t always ideal, the Signless was gone more often than not, but he had given them a hive and they weren’t going to complain anytime soon.

“Hey fuckass, come inside for dinner!” 

Kankri turned to the sound of Karkat’s voice with a sigh; already planning the lecture he would give his younger sibling. That was their basic communication structure, lectures and insults, trading off systematically. The bag of seeds pulled against his hand roughly as he grabbed it, still heavy and over half full. He was going to have a full night of tedious planting again tomorrow. His shoes left imprints in the soft dirt as he left the field, being careful to step over his dutifully organized rows. 

His brother was a sweep younger than him and they looked almost identical. Kankri figured they must have come from very similar genetic information, or perhaps even the same donor. They both had short, rather slim builds for living on a farm, and smaller nubby horns. The physical work that they put in didn’t really show, they weren’t bulky or anything, but underneath their worn black shirts they were well toned and fit. 

Their similarities ended at their looks, their personalities were on completely different sides of the spectrum. Karkat was easy to anger and swore like it was a chronic affliction. He was predictably unpredictable. Kankri and the Signless were calmer, and preferred to utilize the art of lecturing to get their point across. Kankri was pretty sure that nothing he ever did was unpredictable.

“How many times have I told you not to say triggering things Karkat? The way in which you have insulted me uses those terms as a title in which I do not approve. A derogatory name from a person younger than me is also insulting and insinuates the idea that I am not respected, when as your elder I expect the utmost respect and reverence.” Kankri tied the top of the bag of seeds and tossed it next to the front door, the bag landed with a soft thud, falling over on its side. As he stepped past Karkat he tousled his little brother’s hair, knowing just how much Karkat hated it. “Check your privilege, grub.”

“Would you _please just shut the fuck up!”_ Karkat snarked, fixing his hair with a frustrated huff. He followed Kankri inside, closing the door behind him. The air was pleasantly scented with the promise of food and Karkat’s stomach grumbled in anticipation. 

“Triggers.” Kankri sang teasingly. He had made up the word a couple of years ago when Karkat had started swearing more commonly. It was all basically just to annoy Karkat and held no meaning, which only proved to infuriate the troll more. Kankri took his older brother duties seriously. He kicked off his boots and stowed them next to Karkat’s by the door. 

The curtains around the house were drawn and everything was comfortably gloomy. The barest hints of light escaped through the cracks of the window treatments and delicate rays streaked in to fall upon the floor. 

The Signless looked at them in exasperation; he was already sitting at the table with his plate full. “Can’t you two get along, for a day? No? How about an hour?” 

“Sorry Crabdad.” Kankri smiled as he walked through the kitchen doorway. He thought about heading straight to the table but one look at his hands reminded him that what he had been touching all night shouldn’t go anywhere near what he’d be digesting. Karkat couldn’t care less and went straight for the food.

“Seriously, the fuck does triggers even mean? You wave the word around all the time like it’s on a banner, but I highly doubt you even know the gog damn definition.” Karkat commented, pushing his chair to the side while he reached over the table to fill his plate.

“I’ll tell you when you’re older.” Kankri looked back with a smirk and Karkat stuck his tongue out.

“Clever, I’ve never heard that one before.” Karkat rolled his eyes and sat down.

“Karkat.” The Signless said as he caught sight of Karkat’s hands. “Do I need to remind you exactly what you’re going to be eating, because I can give a detailed explanation from the dirt beneath your fingernails.” _Go wash your hands._

“But Crabdad,” Karkat complained, before slumping his shoulders and standing back up. He shouldered Kankri out of the way and hissed when his older brother flicked water in his face. 

Their life was nice. It was simple, peaceful, and safe. Their days were routine. Kankri would wake up before sunset and make breakfast; Karkat would soon join him sleepily later and set the table. They spent the night working in their respective areas, and at dawn they would come together once more. If the Signless wasn’t home then Karkat would make dinner and Kankri would set the table. They gave and took, working like a well-oiled machine. 

Kankri’s eyes followed a thin beam of light as he contemplated all this, claiming a seat to the Signless’ left. Karkat began a rant about his unproductive night with the hoofbeasts, the Signless commenting and exclaiming at appropriate moments. 

“Of course the fucking beast wouldn’t just go into the barn, it followed me around the entire pasture while I rounded up all the other beasts, trying to eat my hair. It’s not like I don’t give them enough food, all of them are gelatinous balls of quivering fat molecules, and I mean all of them, even the beasts that don’t live here. I think that she’s just developing a taste for troll meat; one night if I don’t come back you can just safely assume that I have been eaten and there will only be a pile of sad bones tossed in the mud. I have labeled my murderer, let justice be swift when that day comes.”

“I think it’s just fond of you Karkat.” The Signless laughed.

“Fond of my flesh, sure. I swear that hoofbeast doesn’t have all her metaphorical marbles in her thinkpan. If we could just set up some kind of automatic system for rounding them all up, like a swinging giant fence or something…”

A slow stirring began to burn in the pit of Kankri’s stomach as a foreign feeling swept over him. It was a certain foreboding presence, something dark and sinister and all too sure of itself. 

His vision began to swim and air escaped him, his fingers clutched his utensils tightly, shaking. Red started to creep into the edges of his vision, slowly seeping across like blood flowing along the floor. Kankri forced himself to take deep breaths, trying to remain calm and collected.

Ever since he was six sweeps he had begun to get visions and feelings, startling him enough that he confided to Karkat. It had been frightening and strange, he had been so afraid that Karkat was going to shun him for being so different. He really should have known better, but he was only a wriggler, he had insecurities like everyone else. Karkat had instead sat him down and made Kankri tell him everything, patting his back every now and then, holding him when he cried. 

They were always warnings. It began as trivial visions, such as the hoofbeasts escaping, but over time they started to escalate, like Karkat falling from a ladder or the Signless tripping down the stairs, and with each moment Kankri would arrive just in time to prevent anything serious from happening. 

Lately they had taken on a whole new tune. The same vision kept repeating itself. It would leave him feeling sick and empty, like all life was void from him. It gave him no background or particular victim. It was only a color. 

Candy red blood.

Kankri looked up, blood beating loudly in his ears. That was all he could hear, his pulse growing faster and more erratic. His pupils shrank to pinpricks, as time seemed to slow. The picture before him froze in his mind, as though this was the last sight he’d ever have of his family. 

Karkat had his hands out, diagraming some ridiculous scheme with this frustrated and focused look on his face, food half eaten and long forgotten. He was completely enraged by what he saw before him, even though there was only empty space between his gray palms. The Signless had his elbows on the table, fingers interlocked and chin resting on them while he smiled softly at Karkat. His eyes had a certain gentleness that was only present when looking at his sons. 

Kankri had never noticed that look before.

He felt like he was going to puke.

He stood up suddenly, pushing back his chair with a loud screech. It tipped to the floor with a clatter. Red pushed more strongly into his vision and he knew he wouldn’t be able to see in a minute. “May I please be excused?” He asked bluntly, his words running over themselves. He didn’t look at either of them and he didn’t wait for a reply before taking his plate, rinsing it, and dashing out of the kitchen.

He heard a faint, “I’ll go check on him, don’t worry.”

Kankri tripped as he ran up the stairs, falling across the second floor landing and lying there for a moment, shaking, before crawling to his respiteblock, completely blind with red. He threw an arm out, locating the door after a few attempts and shutting it behind him, sinking against the wood. 

What did he have to prevent?  
Whose blood did he see?  
How could he save them? 

Karkat knocked quietly on the door and Kankri shifted slightly out of the way to let him in. He pressed his eyes into his knees, the red only just beginning to recede.

Karkat let out a sigh and sat down next to him, bumping shoulders. “You can say triggers if you want, I didn’t know you’d be that fucking sensitive about it.”

Kankri let out a huff, “You know that’s not it.”

Karkat smiled, though it looked more pained than happy. He leaned his head against the wall and stared at the ceiling, “Yeah.” 

Silence stretched around them like a blanket, comforting and secure. After a little while the front door opened and closed as the Signless left. He probably wouldn’t be back for a week, and Kankri didn’t get to say goodbye. 

Karkat’s eyes shifted every so often to look at his older brother. 

He was worried about him. 

He was constantly worried about him ever since Kankri had admitted to getting those visions. Although his brother tried to hide it, they scared him. Karkat didn’t know if he’d ever seen a time when Kankri was so broken than when he first told him, when he had looked up at Karkat with those eyes full of fear at being dismissed and rejected. Kankri had been Karkat’s protector since they had found one another, he would face up against any opponent to defend their small family, but in that moment Karkat had seen exactly why he fought. Kankri was terrified of being different, he was afraid of changing and being alone. 

“Wanna talk about it?” Karkat asked quietly, after he’d felt the silence had gone on long enough. 

“No, I just want to stay like this a little longer.” There were undertones to that message; Karkat gave the best response he could think of. He felt it was the most appropriate.

“I know you pity me and all Kankri but I don’t think I swing the incest way.”

“Think being the operative word.”

“Shut it, grub. Let me amend that statement. I pity you, like a brother. In a familial, non-incest way, because you aren’t my type.”

“Just enjoy the quiet while you can because this is a rare moment of silence from me. It comes around just as often as the amount of hairs on your chin.”

“Good comeback.” Karkat stretched and threw an arm around Kankri, pulling him into a hug and nuzzling his head into his brother’s shoulder. “Wake me up if you feel like talking.”

At times like these it almost seemed as though Karkat was the older one. Kankri smiled and ran a hand through Karkat’s hair, eventually nodding off to sleep himself as the presence of his brother calmed him. He didn’t let trolls touch him normally. He didn’t have fond memories associated with the touch of others, but Karkat was different, Karkat was all he had. He didn’t even give the Signless hugs before he left for work or when he came home, this brotherly affection was only Karkat’s privilege.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dualscar's gonna be kind of a tool in this fanfic, sorry about that, you've been forewarned.

The sun slowly slipped below the horizon. As the rays of light faded Kankri opened his eyes, slightly confused before he remembered they had slept on the floor instead of in their recuperacoons. He grimaced as he realized he had slept in. They should have been up an hour ago. He rapped Karkat’s head with his knuckles, “Wake up grub, we have to begin work.”

Karkat slapped his hand away out of reflex and blinked sleepily. He yawned, sitting up straight and stretching. “This floor shit’s gotta go, why the fuck else do we have recuperacoons?” He asked while he stood, reaching down a hand to pull Kankri up.

“Decoration.” 

“I don’t appreciate your smart fuckassery.” Karkat said as he headed to the load gaper, scratching his stomach with one hand and flipping Kankri off with the other as he left the room.

Kankri smiled and went to his closet to change outfits, not that it mattered much; they were all the same dull, shabby black garments. He frowned when Karkat was still in the load gaper after he was done changing, narrowing his eyes at the door because he needed to use it. “Karkat, moderate your use of the load gaper, you are not the only sentient being living in this hive. How you spend so much time in there every morning is stunning to me, I have absolutely no idea how you do it. I advise you to be more tolerant of other’s and step out of the bathroom!”

“Don’t you use that blue blood term with me!”

“You little girl, come out of there and stop checking your nonexistent facial hair. I am going to use the ancient metaphor, a watched pot never boils, but I will change it in your case to an empty pot will never boil so stop looking at it and expecting something to happen.”

“I know you’re saying something, but it just sounds like you’re gagging ~ I Think my future beard muffles the sound of your nagging~” Karkat sang, nonplussed by his brother’s threats. He turned on the faucet, brushing his teeth and surreptitiously checking his chin.

One day, Karkat. One day.

Kankri scowled at the door, hitting it with his fist before heading downstairs to get breakfast ready. He was a big troll, his bladder didn’t rule him, and if pretty princess wanted to put her makeup on for an hour, so be it. It would be no fault of Kankri’s if Karkat’s breakfast accidentally burnt up and was tossed in the dross coffer.

The steps squeaked in the stillness of the hive, a nostalgic and familiar sound. He and Karkat had spent many days and nights as children playing all throughout the place. He knew where all the good hiding spots were, he knew every wall and all of its defects, and he knew which floorboard squeaked and where all its pressure points were.

He jumped down the last stair, smiling a bit to himself about what he’d do to Karkat’s breakfast as he turned the corner to the kitchen. There was a note on the table from the Signless saying he’d be back in a couple of days. The writing was elegant, like Kankri’s strived to be, but wasn’t quite there yet. Karkat’s handwriting was barely legible. 

Kankri nodded, as if in reply to the note, and crumpled it up. Just as he was about to throw the note away, a knock came at the door.

Those three, short raps were like shots to his heart.

Kankri froze in place, his eyes widening in horror at the noise. His breathing became shallow as his hand was paused and still outstretched. He couldn’t move. No one knocked on the door. No one was supposed to know about this place. In all his time of living there, there had never been a single visitor, the closest trolls that they lived next to were some indigo-bloods, and those highbloods didn’t even know they existed. 

He turned slowly to the door, debating with himself on whether to go to it or not. He looked up the dark stairwell, but there was still no sign of Karkat. Kankri thought that maybe they would just go away if no one answered but soon he heard muffled chatter coming from outside. He tiptoed through the room to the window; the tension in the room from his own person felt like it would crush him. 

Kankri peered through a crack in the curtains and saw a small group of trolls surrounding the front of the hive, three stood closest to the door. The main make up of the crowd looked like guards to some highbloods. Their helmets and armor bore matching insignias of two jagged violet lines.

“Ah c’mon Dad, there’s no one here cept us, that Signless guy must’ve moved his grubs somewhere else.” The troll knocking on the door said this, his voice in a unique accented, lazy drawl. He moved like he had all the time in the world, casual and carefree. He was grotesquely underdressed in comparison to the rest of the trolls, with only jeans and a white shirt, a matching insignia to the guards scrawled across his chest. He looked like a human greaser, his hair styled back tastefully and an unlit cigarette tucked behind his ear/fin thing.

Seriously, what was that? Was it an ear or a fin? Kankri had no idea. He knew about sea dwellers but he’d never actually seen one in real life before. From what his father said, most of them were snobs.

“He’s lyin’, Dad, Cronus is just bein’ lazy and doesn’t want to search the place.” The shorter troll to Cronus’ left pointed a finger accusingly; a wand grasped in his other hand. His voice was more heavily accented, arrogant and pompous. It screamed of some one higher up on the hemospectrum. He was drastically different from Cronus, wearing rich purples, dark blues, and black. Rings decorated his fingers and his outfit was pointlessly complicated, albeit fashionable. 

Even Kankri would have to admit to that.

“Am not.”

“Are too!” 

“Shut up, the both of you, and get out of my way.” Their dad pushed through them. He was an older version of the shorter troll boy, though much less hipster looking and a lot more badass. Two scars were scored across his face and he held himself like an emperor, power radiating from him. When he got to the door Kankri decided it was a good idea to back away. He dashed back to the kitchen, feet pounding against the floor. He slid and slammed against the counter, pulling open several drawers in search of a weapon. He’d give anything for his sickle at this moment.

He turned around with a butcher’s knife in his hand as the door crashed open, kicked in by the sea dwellers’ father. The wood splintered as the door hit the wall with force. The sea dweller stepped through the doorway without a thought to the damage he’d caused.

Kankri’s knife wasn’t going to do much against that giant harpoon.

“Ah ha, I thought as much.” The older troll growled, aiming his weapon and firing. Within that split second all Kankri could think of was, he didn’t even blink. He closed his eyes instinctually, waiting for the blow of pain but was confused when it didn’t come. He opened his eyes and the knife fell numbly out of his hands.

Karkat stood in front of him, shaking and breathless, choking a bit on the blood that seeped up from his mouth. He tried to say something, but his voice wouldn’t come out, and he just coughed. The harpoon stuck out of his chest, blood dripping off it. There was a pause from everyone in the room, like time was suspended, long enough for Kankri to watch a drop of blood fall from Karkat’s chest to the floor. Long enough for Kankri to realize that his most precious thing had been suddenly taken from him. Long enough for him to realize that the reason his vision didn’t show him any information was because he could have done nothing to prevent it.

Karkat looked at Kankri’s face with a weak smile, relief spreading across his features before his eyes closed and he slumped over, falling onto Kankri’s chest and sinking to the ground.

_Shit._

Kankri knelt with Karkat clutched to him. His arms wrapped around his brother desperately, Karkat’s face pressed into his shoulder. Kankri touched his cheek with shaking fingers as something dripped down it, pulling back his hand to see it wet with blood. 

The mutant red was slowly seeping along the floor, covering his knees and running down his shirt from where Karkat was pressed against it. The tip of the harpoon pressed against his chest, but he ignored it, barely recognizing the pain. He ran a hand through Karkat’s hair like he had done during the day before they slept, “Kar?” He asked quietly, the name choking out of his throat. He hugged Karkat closer, begging him to wake up. 

Karkat remained unresponsive, no matter how much Kankri pleaded.

Cronus ran in after his dad, hearing the fire of the weapon. “Woah! Pops, the Empress said to bring ‘em in, not kill ‘em!” Cronus said, reaching to grab the harpoon and turning it away as the older troll had been aiming for Kankri next. Cronus realized a second too late what he had done as his father hit Cronus with the weapon, sending him flying a few feet back to slam against the wall of the small hive. Never challenge Dualscar’s authority, rule number one, even if he was in the wrong. 

“Collect him.”

Cronus stood up slowly, leaning against the wall for a moment before looking at his father with distaste, “Yes Dualscar.” He walked to the mess of blood, grabbing the living troll’s arm and pulling him up. He didn’t resist. He was like a doll, as lifeless as the younger troll bleeding on the floor.

Cronus hadn’t predicted the mutant to suddenly go into a frenzy as they passed Dualscar.

Kankri lunged at the older troll, breaking out of Cronus’ grasp, a scream ripping out of his throat. Red filled his vision, but this time it was from his own anger and hate. His claws wrapped around Dualscar’s throat and he knocked them both to the ground. He scratched his sharp nails down Dualscar’s face, ripping out flesh and covering his hands with violet blood.

Cronus reacted before anyone else, running behind Kankri and pulling him back. He slammed the mutant against the floor and grabbed both his arms, twisting them behind his back. He knelt over him, muscles straining as he kept Kankri immobile. Damn, the little guy had a lot of strength in him.

Kankri screamed, frustrated at being held back, uncaring of the fact that Cronus was the only thing between him and certain death. If he had been attacking Dualscar for a moment longer he would have been torn apart by lightning. 

Cronus looked to Eridan who was standing in shock in the doorway. He had probably never seen their father taken down so easily, it wasn’t a common feat, but Cronus had seen it a couple times before. Usually when a certain pirate was visiting the palace. 

“Eridan, a lil’ help here?” He asked, startling his the younger troll into movement. Eridan nodded at him and raised the wand in his hand, white streaks of power snapping out. The pull of magic surrounded Kankri and Cronus released his hold with confidence that the mutant blood was bound. As much as a pain Eridan was almost, well, all the time, he was really skilled in magic. At least he had one thing going for him.

He pulled Kankri up, hoisting him over his shoulder and heading out the door before Dualscar could administer punishment, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill Kankri, even though the Empress ordered them to be brought to her alive. He glanced over his shoulder as he felt something watching him. Next to the hive, leaning in the shadow of the house stood a tall troll, white paint on his face. From the looks of his outfit, he was definitely a juggalo; no troll in their right mind would normally wear dotted pants. Was he a part of their group? Cronus had never seen him before. The troll wiggled his fingers in a wave and Cronus turned back around, more than a little creeped out. The mutant blood alternated between hissing and wordless yelling the entire time, trying to struggle and not being allowed any movement. 

The red blood from the mutant smeared across Cronus’ shirt, undoubtedly staining it. “Relax kid.” Cronus said in frustration, frowning down at his shirt. These ones were hard to get and Eridan, who despised his cool-cat style, was slowly destroying what little supply he had. 

The mutant quieted down, but there was a low hiss that was released as they walked back to the sea. The troll beneath his hands was warm to the touch, he felt like any other troll, although a little more soft than what Cronus was used to. That little train of thought went off the deep end when he found himself questioning what he was doing. Why was this troll so different that he had to be treated this way?

Why were mutant bloods called mutant?  
Was it just because their blood was a brighter shade?  
Or that they were a little weaker than the rest?  
Was it because they didn’t live as long?

Culling was so common practice in their culture, who made the thin line that decided whether a troll lived or died?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If yeh had the chance tah change yer fate, would yeh? ~~omgimsosorry~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm taking some liberties with Dualscar's magic here, but for the convenience of the plot please don't read too much into it (ironic because your reading haha sorry that was a bad pun).

Cronus woke to the sound of a knock at his door. It floated through the water and startled the schools of fish swimming around his ceiling. He frowned, his eyes narrowing as he contemplated the consequences of ignoring his father’s summons. No matter what he did, it wasn’t going to be a painless confrontation. Ampora’s don’t make mistakes, which was exactly what Cronus did last night. He sighed in defeat, running a hand over his forehead feeling his stress rising. He was getting too old for this shit.

A large slitherbeast nestled by his head was startled awake at the knock and peeked its head between the coils of its body to look at him, he smiled and touched a finger to its nose. The creature was more like a pet than a wild beast; he had taken to calling it the Mayor because it always bossed around the other creatures and seemed to be the unofficial leader. He would have named it King, but the name just didn’t seem right. It was a little too cruel sounding for the adorable beast. The Mayor was a constant habitant of his room and slept with him every day. 

It had first started appearing when Cronus was just a wriggler, taking the place of a lusus and caring for him. Cronus’ lusus had been fed to the Gl’ Bgoylb. Dualscar said that if Cronus and Eridan were to take his place then they’d have to prove themselves. He didn’t want them being “pampered” and said they’d have to survive on their own if they wanted to make it to adult hood. It wasn’t the easiest of childhoods, but since Cronus and Eridan grew up in the palace it wasn’t impossible to get by. 

Cronus’ respiteblock windows were always open, which meant that several sea creatures swam in and out on a regular basis. Cronus enjoyed it, even though he wasn’t supposed to let them all in. Schools of fish wove in between random jellyfish, making their rounds and then swimming right back out the windows. Other creatures floated slowly around, a few cuttlefish would visit every now and then. Usually when there were cuttlefish they usually came bearing a message from Feferi, one of the tyrian-blood heiresses. She was the only one living in the palace, the chosen one by Gl’Bgoylb out of all the others to take the place of the Empress. This meant that although she had a nice place to live, she also had to deal with constant assassination attempts from the current ruler. 

The knock sounded again and Cronus rolled his eyes, retreating from his musings. The Mayor buried its head beneath its coils once more as he slid out of bed, snatching a random pair of pants that were thrown about the floor. He slipped them on and pulled open the dark stone doors, running a hand through his hair in exasperation at the two guards outside who were way too official to be messengers. His father just liked to push his authority on others.

“I know where to find him.” Cronus said before shutting the door once more and questing off to find a shirt.

“I’ll be back soon.” Cronus said to the Mayor, chastely kissing its scales in goodbye. He gently nudged a few fish out of the way as he left, closing the door softly behind him. The hall was dark, which was to be expected considering the whole palace was made out of obsidian and was a couple hundred feet beneath the waves. Luminescent algae floated along the ceiling of every room, lighting their pathways and providing a comfortable and elegant atmosphere. He passed a few glowing plants, though they weren’t very common, the palace wasn’t big on horticulture. What they really focused on was the art of war and oppression, giant pictures and weapons showcased throughout the expansive building.

That was why Dualscar was there; he was the leader of the navy and the key enforcer of the Empress. Cronus and Eridan were the heirs to the title, pit against each other at every opportunity to decide who would reign as General after Dualscar. Despite their forced rivalry, Cronus and Eridan had a begrudging fondness for one another. 

Cronus swam along with the small current that flowed down the hallway, reaching his father’s study in a small amount of minutes. Dualscar spent most of his time there, and that was where he always received his sons. Enchanted maps and books were scrawled along the tables and detailed attacks were written along the walls. It was also the room that Dualscar’s frequent visitor, Mindfang, snuck into to steal information. Cronus knew they had an ongoing kismesissitude, he was pretty sure everyone knew, but for some reason Dualscar still felt the need to go about it in a more secretive manner.

His father was not pleased at the wait when Cronus entered the large chamber. Of course, his father was never pleased with anything, so there was no surprise there. 

He stood, leaning against the main table, arms crossed and scowl ever present. The wounds administered from Kankri were faded and barely noticeable, Cronus was sure in another night they’d be completely gone. That was unfortunate. 

Dualscar motioned for him to enter. Cronus had hoped that maybe he’d berate him from a distance, but no dice. _Heh, Mindfang would appreciate that one._ He thought to himself, resisting the urge to smile at his ill-timed humor. 

He swam forward, his feet touching down so that he could take a militarian stance before Dualscar. He clasped his wrist behind his back and squared his shoulders, eyes trained forward. He regretted his decision to get out of bed.

++

The first thing Kankri heard as he woke up was the sound of water. It wasn’t running water, but rather, it was the collective sounds of still water. Sometimes there was a pop or a little splash; it would have been relaxing if he weren’t stuck in a prison cell with his brother’s death on replay in his mind. The image of Karkat’s weak smile wouldn’t leave his head. 

Oddly enough, it wasn’t the fact that Karkat died that hurt, what hurt the most was the fact that even with a giant harpoon sticking through his chest, his last thought had been to comfort his older brother. Trolls weren’t a species that normally showed kindness; they were rough, violent, and cruel. Kankri had always know that their family was different from usual, but he hadn’t been aware exactly how different until that moment. 

Kankri was currently located in the dungeons of the sea dwellers, the Empress’ to be exact. More specifically he was lying on the floor, as there were no furnishings except stone, slightly damp stone, and more stone. And some glowy stuff on the ceiling, he wasn’t quite sure what it was, but he didn’t feel like investigating. He also didn’t know was why he was there, though he suspected it had something to do with his father based on the small bits of conversation he had heard before everything had gone downhill.

After Cronus had thrown him in the cell last night there hadn’t been a single visitor or guard to tell him what he was even doing there. He didn’t even see any other prisoners around, though from some echoing coughs and sniffs he knew they were there. 

He was incredibly hungry.

The cell itself was interesting; the actual space of it was filled with air, constantly resupplying itself with oxygen. There weren’t any bars; instead there was a wall of water, held in place by an invisible magical barrier. Kankri had almost tried to escape before he thought it through. Even if he did get out, he’d drown before reaching the surface. The entire palace was filled with water, seeing as the inhabitants didn’t need to breathe oxygen. They only filled the dungeons with special air filled cells so that their prisoners didn’t pre-maturely die. 

Kankri sat up, his head spinning from lack of food. He pressed his hands against the smooth stone beneath him, crawling to the corner and pulling his knees against his chest. He kept switching locations in his cell, not being able to sit in one place without his mind wandering and traveling down dark territory. 

His side was unbearably cold; there was no Karkat to comfort him this time. The thought of Karkat brought up a picture of his family in his mind, the one that had startled him so much the night before. He had been right. That was the last supper his family would ever have together.

There wasn’t a window to look out, just stark black walls around him. Every noise he made echoed and the constant drip of water had been going on for so long he barely heard it anymore. His stomach grumbled loudly and he grimaced.

He idly wondered if the sea dwellers were just going to let him starve to death. He turned his attention to the entrance of his cell when he heard someone coming near.

The water wall began to ripple and soon a certain greaser sea troll popped into his cell. Cronus was holding a hand to his forehead and had a plate of food in the other. Water dripped down and puddled around his feet, it also collected on the plate of food he held. “Chow time kitty cat!” He said cheerily, though his face was pale and Kankri noticed his stiff movements. 

“That name is insulting to me, even though I may be your prisoner I will not tolerate any disrespectful name calling as it is adding metaphorical salt to my wounds. I am also nothing like a cat, there is no feline bone or joint within my body and the closest relation to the beast may be my night vision which all trolls have acquired from thousands of millennia of evolution. I will disregard the fact that you have insulted me this one time though because you have brought sustenance. Give it.” Kankri muttered all this, looking up at Cronus through his shaggy black curls, glowing red eyes piercing through the gloom. He held out a hand, beckoning for the plate.

Cronus stood there throughout the speech in a slight state of shock and bewilderment before bursting out laughing. He doubled over holding the plate in the air for a good minute before he could control himself. “Damn chief, I didn’t realize what a talker you’d be!”

Kankri looked at him grumpily, slightly happier when he was given his food, but still upset because of his whole predicament. He also wasn’t a fan of seafood, and the fact that it was seafood complete with seawater didn’t amuse him.

Cronus stood back up and leaned against the water wall as if it were solid, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one up, breathing out the smoke and watching as it curled slowly through the air. Cigarettes were a new fad amongst trolls, imitating the old myths and legends of humans. Kankri didn’t see what was so cool about poisoning yourself.

Cronus felt infinitely better than he had a few hours before and he was considerably less light headed. He gently touched the wound on his forehead, checking how far it had healed.

At least it wasn’t gushing blood still. He really didn’t appreciate his new addition.

“What happened?” Kankri’s voice startled him and he looked down at the little black figure. Red met violet, and Cronus couldn’t decide what emotion was being portrayed on Kankri’s face. 

Was he really concerned? 

Was he looking for a weakness?

His eyes slid to the opposite corner of the cell as the hand by his side clenched into a fist.

++

“I’m disappointed in you.”

Cronus kept his mouth closed, eyes falling to the ground. 

“I have solely raised you in my shadow, to be my heir, and this is what you’ve done with my work? You fail? You let a filthy mutant blood get the best of you?” Dualscar’s voice was deadly calm. “They said that you grubs were the best of the pick, that you could rule armadas at seven sweeps. I should have known better. Instead of warriors I have a human wannabe and a wizard who thinks he’s a scientist. I should cull you where you stand for your mistake, as my father would have done to me.”

Dualscar’s hand came out of nowhere and Cronus’ face snapped to the side, eyes wide at the force of the hit. He hadn’t expected that so soon. “You are lucky I am so lenient. We are one of the most powerful families in the kingdom. How does that reflect on the Empress when a troll no older than his son takes down her General? I expect great things from you Cronus, and you let me down again and again. I am running out of second chances to give you.”

Cronus slowly faced his father again, wiping the blood that trailed from his lip. He kept his eyes trained to the ground and said nothing, his father was expecting an answer but nothing Cronus could say would make a difference. Dualscar took that response as insolence and it brought a new wave of anger into the room.

“I have tolerated this rebelliousness for long enough, you will show me some respect.” Dualscar grabbed Cronus’ shirt collar in a sudden burst of impatience, bringing them face-to-face, but Cronus still kept his eyes averted. 

Dualscar snarled and released Cronus, as if realizing he was being too impulsive. He stood back, waiting for an answer, waiting to know how this was going to end.

Cronus’ fists slowly clenched and unclenched at his sides as he tried to calm himself down. He wasn’t going to be like his father, he wasn’t going to lose his control. He breathed deeply, slowly raising his eyes. 

How could he say this in the politest way possible? 

“I may be your son, but I will never be anythin’ like you.” 

Close enough.

Emotions flashed across Dualscar’s face, rapidly shifting through disappointment, sadness, confusion, and anger before they were replaced with cold, bitter detachment. “You don’t have an option.” 

The first blow was to the face, this time a fist. Cronus flew back and smashed his side into a table. He turned in time to block Dualscar’s fist but wasn’t fast enough to dodge Dualscar’s other attack. Cronus fell back onto the table from the force of Dualscar’s blow to his chest, his back colliding painfully with the petrified wood. Dualscar slid a dagger skillfully out of his belt and stabbed Cronus through the hand, effectively pinning him to the table.

Cronus cried out and then grit his teeth, his other hand shooting out to claw at Dualscar’s face, trying to open fresh wounds. “Face it, its impossible for me to be the son you wanted!” He growled, when he couldn’t reach Dualscar’s face he turned his attention on what was holding him still and ripped the dagger out of his hand. He pushed himself over the table so that it stood between him and his father, dagger poised in his hand.

“Nothing is impossible.” Dualscar said in reply, though Cronus only heard his voice as Dualscar flashed out of his sight, magic swarming into the room. Cronus turned around, waving the knife wildly, looking for Dualscar but he only saw an empty room. Dualscar had turned himself invisible. Shit. Suddenly he felt a hand grab the back of his throat. His face was smashed into the table and he felt his nose break. 

Dualscar turned him around as Cronus was dazed, a hand still around his neck, holding him against the table. He dragged his sharp nail along the side of Cronus’ forehead, pushing deeper with every stroke. Blood trailed down Cronus’ face and mixed with the water as Dualscar repeated the same carving over and over. When Cronus was on the edge of unconsciousness Dualscar stopped. He had carved the symbol of their family into Cronus’ skin, now they would both carry matching scars.

Cronus was an object to Dualscar and nothing more. He was his father’s puppet. His whole life, he would continue to be in his father’s footsteps, speaking with his words, wearing his mistakes as decorative metals on his chest.

Cronus slipped slowly to the floor as Dualscar left, eyes half lidded and breathing shallow. When he could move he crawled out from behind the table, pushing himself up against the wall and floating slowly to the door. He could feel some of the wounds beginning to stitch themselves up thanks to the fast healing of violet-bloods. He wouldn’t die of blood loss, but he’d already lost so much that he was out of sorts. Every move hurt and black was eating at the edges of his vision. He pulled himself along the walls hand over hand, making incredibly slow but steady progress. Eventually he made it back to his room, only to shut the doors behind him and sink to the floor. 

The Mayor swam to him immediately, taking in his condition and wrapping around his wrists, towing him to his custom-made human bed. Cronus saw a flash of red on the floor and looked back to see his stained shirt from the night before, lying where he had fallen. Now violet was mixed with the red and together they made a whole new blood color, one that he had never seen before. 

_Maybe I can do that too. Maybe that mutant can change who I’m becoming and make me someone different, someone not tied to this cruel path of life._ Cronus closed his eyes, vowing to go meet the troll as soon as he woke.

++

“I fell.” Cronus smiled at Kankri, shoving his hands in his pockets. The lie slipped out before he could consider the probability of it actually happening.

“A rather odd wound for a fall. Even more odd considering it`s pretty hard to fall when floating in water.”

“It was a pretty crazy fall. What, is this lil’ cat worried about me?” Cronus feigned shock and then leaned closer, grinning when Kankri turned his face away.

“I hope your collapsing and expanding bladder based aquatic vascular system permanently shuts down.”

Cronus laughed, “That’s an arrow to the heart, chief, I’m wounded.” 

Kankri frowned at him, “My name is Kankri, not chief, either use my name when talking to me or hold back your comments. I suggest the latter, but it is really up to your own preference.” He didn’t know why the sea dweller was still in the cell and it bothered him that the guy was just standing there smoking so nonchalantly. He set the empty plate down and kicked it closer to Cronus.

How did those cigarettes even work when they’d been in water? Wouldn’t they all be soggy?

“You can call me Cronus, I’d offer my hand to shake but I don’t think you’re the type to do that.” Cronus couldn’t get enough of that little pouty face. He bent down and picked up the tray, tossing it out of the cell so that it floated within the water outside.

“I’m not the type to do much of anything, though that is none of your business. I’m curious as to why you’re still here even though I have finished my meal and there is no other reason to your presence, unless you’re trying to steal all of my oxygen in a new form of torture so that I slowly suffocate to death. Perhaps it’s a new form of culling created, or maybe it’s a signature murdering technique. If it was a new murdering technique then I personally think you could do better, or at least get a little more creative. If you are taking requests I would like to go out in a stereotypical blaze of glory.” Kankri felt like his mouth was on autopilot, even when he didn’t want to say much he couldn’t stop talking.

“I’m not sure how there’d be any glory blazes underwater, maybe a lil’ campfire, but in any case, no. That is a negatory Kankers, I am not, nor will I ever try to murder you. Though don’t tell them that, I’ve got a reputation to uphold.” He said this secretively, crouching unnecessarily closer to Kankri to whisper the last part even though there was no one else around. 

Kankri’s eyes flicked to the wound on his forehead, it obviously wasn’t from a fall.

“To be honest Kan, I just would prefer to be here right now than anywhere else, so here I am!” Cronus sat down and blew out another trail of smoke, both of them watching it as it slowly dissipated in the air. 

“The fact that you’d rather spend your time in a filthy dungeon says nothing positive about your character. And don’t shorten my name.”

“But it’s so much cuter that way! A cute name for a cute cat.” Cronus wiggled his eyebrows. 

Kankri grimaced and pressed his face against his knees, blocking out the site of Cronus and pretending that he wasn’t there. There were so many feelings that he was experiencing at the moment, and the fact that he couldn’t sort them out made everything worse. He felt pity for the son of his brother’s murderer, he felt lost over the death of his brother, he felt frustrated at being trapped, and he felt useless for not being able to do anything about it. 

Why was he there? Why did they come to their island? Where was his dad?

He wondered briefly how the farm was without them. 

That stupid hoofbeast was probably waiting for Karkat. Kankri wondered if it would ever realize that his brother wasn’t coming again.

Cronus hadn’t said anything for a while, and when Kankri peered up out of his dark hair he felt his cheeks heat up. Cronus had been sitting there the whole time, staring at him without a word. Almost contemplative, which was odd to see on the troll.

Then, without a word, Cronus stood up and left, grabbing the floating plate as he swam away. 

Kankri frowned at the sense of imbalance in the absence of the violet-blooded troll. Why should he want him back? He hadn’t wanted him to be there in the first place. 

Now that Cronus was gone, Kankri realized how lonely he had been. 

++

“I’m fine Mayor, really.” Cronus said to the slitherbeast as the creature fussed over him, continually wrapping itself around his arms and legs, finally resting around his shoulders. The creature flicked its tongue over the wound on his forehead in concern.

Cronus pet its head absentmindedly while he swam around his room, pacing. Kankri sparked feelings in him that he’d never felt before, amusement, pity, infatuation, and several others. It was all so different.

The most startling part of his mutant blood excursion was in that moment of silence, when the only thought in his mind was, _I want to save him._

Perhaps he could be different from his father. Maybe there was still hope for him.

His pacing was interrupted by a knock on the door, Cronus looked at the Mayor in surprise, “I’m pretty popular today.”

The door swung open without waiting for an answer and Eridan swam in, he was decked out in his usual hipster attire, though he was missing the ridiculous cape.

“What do you want, grub?” Cronus looked at him, crossing his arms. 

“I just wanted you to know that you’re an idiot, and I got this from Fef.” Eridan said tossing a small jar of ointment to Cronus like he hadn’t been the one to get it in the first place and was just passing it along.

“It’s always surprisin’ to see how much you care for me.” Cronus caught the jar and looked at the inside curiously.

“I’d rather not sea you floatin’ belly up is all. Now I’m off to go apologize to Fef for yet another thing I’ve apparently done wrong.” Eridan sighed in exasperation and turned to the door. He paused with a hand on the doorframe when Cronus called his name.

“What do you think about blood colors?” Cronus asked, setting the jar on his desk, his back to Eridan.

“What do you mean? Like, why are they different colored? Why do they separate the trolls? Your question is too fuckin’ vague.”

“What do you think about the sayin’ that a blood color determines some one’s fate?”

Eridan was silent for a moment; he scratched his neck in thought. “I’ve never really given it thought before, but I suppose that to some degree it’s true. I mean, in our kind of society we basically are born into our roles, anyone who disagrees is culled, no questions asked. If we were different I don’t think blood colors would be half as important, but, we are how we are, we can’t change that.” He shrugged, “What’s brought on this random deep thinkin’?”

“I was just curious.” Cronus turned around and smiled. Eridan raised his eyebrows, narrowing his eyes suspiciously, but he didn’t press for more information and shut the door behind him as he left.

The smile fell off Cronus’ face and he turned to his window, looking out at the black fathoms. He didn’t move from that spot for a long while, until finally the Mayor dragged him over to the bed for some much needed rest.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a shorter chapter this time around. As always, thanks for reading!

Days and nights passed, though Kankri couldn’t tell the difference, the light never changed in his cell and the food schedule was erratic. Cronus continued to visit him as often as he could, though it was usually at all odd hours of the day. He would sneak into Kankri’s cell, always bringing random food and treats. One time he had even brought a guitar, to the surprise of Kankri.

“You play an instrument? Forgive my surprise but I hadn’t expected a troll of your stature to be allowed to cultivate such a peaceful interest. I had thought that you would be more in tune to the arts of war.” Kankri had said, chewing on one of the candies Cronus had brought. He was lying on the ground, his legs kicking in the air idly. There wasn’t much to do in isolation but after working on a farm for all his life he didn’t like to just sit around and do nothing. Cronus sat a couple feet away, leaning against the water wall as per usual and giving Kankri a pout.

“It’s nice to see that you really think a lot of me. I’m so flattered.”

“It was a bit stereotype-ish and narrow minded of me, I apologize.”

“Apology received and taken into consideration.”

Kankri’s lips curled upward and he turned his face away, hiding his smile. Cronus elicited amusement from him a lot, though Kankri didn’t want Cronus to know. The troll made so many sexual innuendos, if he realized Kankri actually was fond of him then he’d have a field day. When he could pull a straight face he flipped over to rest on his side, lying relaxed with his cheek pressed against the cold floor, staring at Cronus.

Cronus strummed the strings idly, chewing on the end of an unlit cigarette. Kankri noticed that he did that whenever he wanted to just think about something. When he was stressed out, he’d light it. 

Soon a little melody floated out from Cronus’ fingertips. At first it was just a little wriggler song, simple and with stoic singular notes, but it gradually transgressed into something more elaborate and Kankri’s eyebrows rose in surprise at the quality. The notes floated around the room, echoing off the walls in a crescendo of music. Cronus began to smile as he played, picking up steam. 

How could a troll that could make something so beautiful, live in a world full of so much cruelty? How could Cronus stand it? 

Kankri still didn’t know. He sat in his cell, while he waited for Cronus to arrive, clicking his nails against the floor in boredom. 

He didn’t know how Cronus would be today. Sometimes Cronus would be silent when he arrived, just wanting a place to escape to, not saying a word and just sitting with Kankri in silence. Other times Kankri couldn’t get a word in edgewise, which was a feat in itself considering how much Kankri liked to talk. 

In the beginning Kankri tried to keep Cronus far away from him both physically and personally, but somewhere along their pointless conversations Kankri would find himself talking about his life. Cronus was fascinated by it. 

He wanted to know everything, about farming, about his family, about living on land. He liked hearing about Kankri’s house and little details about the island. It was almost cute, how excited he would get. The farming interested him in particular and somehow he never ran out of questions. 

Kankri didn’t know how to describe their relationship; it wasn’t like they were starting any quadrants. They hadn’t even spent a lot of time together and yet Kankri felt like they shared a sort of bond, there weren’t really words to describe it.

He didn’t know if Cronus felt the same way, the sea dweller switched constantly between being an open book to a vault of secrets, but Cronus seemed to trust him a lot more than any of the other trolls in the palace.

Kankri thought it was because Cronus didn’t have any other friends.

They were friends. That was the word he was looking for. 

Kankri let out a sigh, rolling onto his back and staring at the glowing ceiling. He didn’t have an accurate date, but he would have to guess he’d been in there for about a month, with still no information as to why he was there. When he asked Cronus, the sea dweller refused to say anything on the matter. 

He saw the water rippling out of the corner of his eye and turned, expecting to find Cronus but instead it was the tall father troll, Dualscar. He seemed to fill up the cell space as he walked in; there was such a drastic difference between him and Cronus.

Kankri instantly stood up, apprehensive. The sea dweller motioned for the guards to come in and they shackled Kankri’s hands together, pushing him out of the cell and into a waiting air bubble.

The underwater palace was beautiful and dark all at the same time. There were giant glass windows all along the halls, and various creatures would swim past, some of them Kankri had never even heard of before. Oddly though, all of the windows were shut. _If I lived among such beauty I’d have my windows open constantly_ , Kankri thought as he was channeled along. 

When he was brought to what seemed to be the throne room there were several figures waiting for him. He briefly noticed Cronus standing off to the side, staring at the floor, before his attention was brought to a hooded troll chained in front of them all. They appeared to have been having a conversation and the troll in the center turned to see who was brought in.

“Father?” Kankri whispered, fear plummeting into his stomach. 

The Signless was battered and bruised. It looked like he hadn’t slept in days, dark shadows rested beneath his eyes. Had he been here this whole time as well? His body condition suggested that he had received a much different treatment than Kankri. Wounds were marked all along his body, they had been scored with intent, sliced in neat rows like tally marks. He was looking at Kankri in horror. 

The Empress smiled maliciously from her position, lounging in her throne, “I hadn’t wanted to use this card because I feel it’s a bit underhanded, plus I had forgotten that I even had him,” She laughed to herself, “but before I just go killing you, how about one last try at this? Feel like standing down? Hm? Now that your little grub is here?”

“Kankri,” The Signless’s voice was hoarse. He tried to stand up but one of the guards pushed him back down. 

Kankri saw his eyes, those eyes that searched his for any sort of harm. This was the troll who had taken him in. That had held him throughout the day when he had horrorterrors. That showed him how to read and write. He was the one who taught Kankri everything he knew. Those eyes that had always looked upon his with kindness now looked torn and desperate. It was not the eyes of his father that looked upon him, it was the eyes of a warrior who has been shown his weakness. It was a look of hopelessness. Kankri didn’t want to see that in his eyes, he didn’t want his father to ever look at him like that.

“It’s okay crabdad.” Kankri smiled softly although everything was screaming in him to yell at his dad, criticize him for the positions they were in. He smiled regardless of how angry or betrayed he felt. 

It was easy enough to know what was going to happen, he wasn’t an idiot. He was being used as a pawn against his dad in whatever crusade the Empress was talking about. He felt stupid for not realizing it sooner, the reason he was there was so obvious now that it hurt. He could see the specific, ominous weaponry off to the side. He noticed the excited look on the high bloods faces. They were going to use him to try and take his father down.

Kankri wouldn’t let them have that satisfaction. “Don’t worry about me.” He said, his voice sounding stronger than he felt, “I won’t forgive you if you fail because of me father. I don’t know how you managed to get us into this mess, but don’t you dare let Karkat’s death be in vain. Or mine for that matter if my presumptions are correct. We’re mutants, not cowards.”

The Signless nodded his head slowly, turning back to the Empress with a look of scorn, “You’ve heard the words of my grub, the sentiments of his father run true within him as well. Our plea will not be silenced, regardless of pain you may inflict. My answer will not change.”

The Empress narrowed her eyes, “We’ll see about that.”

Family wasn’t a familiar concept to Alternian culture. Most trolls viewed it as some sort of disease or a weakness. It wasn’t seen as something to be grateful or looked for, and yet, the Vantases treasured it above all else. It was their bond as a family that kept them going. In a world where everyone hated and spat upon them, they could look to each other for comfort and support. It was their safe haven. That was why Kankri would forgive his father, regardless of how he felt at the moment. It was why he was okay with what was about to happen to him. 

Even though they weren’t blood related, they were family. They’d do anything for each other. If one of them fucked up, the others would pick up the slack, because that was what a family did. No questions asked.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!

Kankri’s limp body was taken out of the throne room, Cronus watched with a pained gaze. The inside of his cheek was bleeding, having to bite it to keep from saying anything out of line. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fucking fair. Who was she to do that to some one like Kankri? To hurt such an innocent troll because of, what, his blood color? This place wasn’t fucking fair. 

The Signless was commanded to stand up, ready to be escorted to his confined chamber. Cronus caught his eye, those red eyes so familiar and yet strange. They weren’t the eyes of his Kankri, though he could see Kankri within them. They held eye contact for a long moment, trying to read each other’s face. The Signless must have seen something in him. As he was lead out of the room he stumbled into Cronus who froze at the close contact.

“Save my son.” The words were whispered close to his ear, barely decipherable.

The guards yanked the Signless away, pushing him forward. Before the Signless left the room he looked over his shoulder at Cronus, who found himself nodding his head a fraction of an inch in reply. The Signless’ eyes softened and he turned back around.

Eridan gave him a curious look but Cronus ignored him, leaving the room as quickly as was acceptable. He went straight to his own respiteblock and grabbed his med pack off the shelf. He began swimming stealthily back down the corridors, hiding from the guards that had escorted Kankri down when they passed by.

Kankri’s screams ran through his mind and Cronus flinched. His hands clenched around the med pack before he blew out a breath, calming himself down, anger wasn’t what was needed in this situation. He swam past the guards that were positioned by the dungeon’s entrance, flicking them a coin as he swam past for bribery. He didn’t want his father catching tail of his frequent excursions.

Kankri was curled up, motionless in his small cube of air, staring blankly at the rippling wall of water. “Kan?” Cronus questioned as he entered, kneeling by the small black bundle.

Kankri didn’t reply, though he couldn’t have even if he wanted too. The first punishment had been branding his tongue; the Empress thought it was “ironic” for the son of the preacher to be silent. 

“You’ll be fine in no time Kan, you’ll see, I’ve got all sorts of goodies to make you better right here.” Cronus spoke to him, but he was more so reassuring himself. He reached out and then hesitated, not knowing if he could actually touch the mutant blood or not. They always had a certain distance between them, an invisible wall. When Kankri still gave no answer Cronus began to fuss over him, rolling Kankri onto his back and pulling off his shirt.

“I swear I’m not tryin’ anythin’.” Cronus said, laying the shirt to the side and grimacing at the wounds. “How fast to mutant bloods heal, anyway?” He muttered to himself, none of the wounds were any different than when they were inflicted, though most of the blood was dried by now. 

He looked to the wall of water and flicked his hand at it; little orbs of water flew over Kankri at his command and washed the wounds before he began to patch him up. He tried to never use magic, he was terrified of becoming corrupted like his old man, but this wasn’t the time for his own personal problems.

Kankri was warm to his touch, did he have a fever, or was that a mutant blood thing too? He didn’t know anything about healing, it wasn’t a common practice taught in his family. Cronus chewed at his lip, wishing he could pull out a cigarette but he was pretty sure you weren’t supposed smoke around invalids. 

He wished Feferi were here, she had a talent with healing all sorts of creatures.

He finished tying the last bit of bandages around Kankri’s wrists where the shackles had bit into his skin. “There, see? All better.” He smiled, but it fell off his face when Kankri remained unresponsive, staring at the ceiling. 

Cronus’ gaze fell to the floor and he crossed his legs, sitting hunched over with his face in his hands. After a moment he reached out a hand to hold Kankri’s, his thumb gently tracing circles on the back of his hand. “I’m sorry I’m so useless.” He said quietly, his words echoing back to him pathetically, “I’m sorry Kan, please don’t hate me. You have every right to, but please don’t.” 

Silence.

“I told your old man I’d save you, heh, big words for just one sea dweller.” He rubbed his chin, “I’m not sure how I’m gonna go about doin’ that but I’ll try my best. I already let my own father down, can’t do that to yours too. I gotta boost my bachelor eligibility in his eyes and win your hand in marriage, not that you know what that is, but that joke was hilarious. I’m lyin’ it was really bad.”

“This is fuckin’ pathetic.” Cronus turned sharply at the sound of Eridan’s voice. The sea dweller was standing in the cell, leaning against the water wall. He was looking at Cronus with raised eyebrows, cape pulled around him as if he was cold.

“Eridan,” Cronus let go of Kankri’s hand and stood up.

Before Cronus could say anything else Eridan held up a hand, “Don’t even ask me how long I’ve been here, I’ve seen enough. It wasn’t all that difficult to figure out somefin was goin’ on considerin’ when you left the throne room you looked like you were goin’ to have a heart attack. Usually you aren’t even affected when the higher ups decide to get a little dirty.”

“I really wish you had phrased that sentence differently.”

“Fuck off,” Eridan made a grand gesture of flipping him off and then pushing up his glasses with the same middle finger. “It seems to me like you’ve gone and gotten yourself in a predicament. A rather risky and down right illegal predicament at that.”

“This doesn’t concern you Eridan, why don’t you turn your little fancy fins back around and go pine after Fef some more?”

“I’ll fuckin’ pine when I wanna pine, you can’t tell me what to do. And for that matter you shouldn’t even try, considerin’ I was actually thinkin’ of helpin’ you out Cronass.”

“No fuckin,’ way.”

“Every fuckin’ way.”

Cronus gave him an “are you serious?” look and Eridan rolled his eyes, “Look, it’s for the benefit of everyone if you leave, mainly me, myself, and I. I’m shore you would agree that this place would be better off with one less Ampora and I for one am all for making that happen.”

“Not that I’m terribly concerned for your wellbein’ but no, Eridan, pops would kill you if he had any idea what you were gettin’ involved in. It’s enough that I’m probably gonna be culled in the near future, no sense in goin’ and gettin’ yourself dead as well.”

They stared angrily at each other before Eridan sighed and kicked at the ground, his lips pursed like he had something sour in his mouth. “Let’s stop this stupid antagonistic display of disguised pity, alright? I just… look, you’re important to me, and I don’t like fuckin’ sayin’ this but I do have an attachment to you that’s somethin’ akin to being brotherly, get that sappy look off your face I’m not sayin’ anythin’ more than that. I don’t care what happens to me, dad can’t do shit without endangerin’ his position cause me and Fef are moirails, so don’t worry. Let me help you out this once so that I can never see your ugly face get hurt again.”

“That was the sweetest confession I’ve heard from you yet. Do we need to hug?”

“You stay the fuck away from me.”

Cronus chuckled, “It was worth a shot.” He ran a hand through his hair, looking around at the small space before his eyes ran along Kankri’s still body once more. “You really think you can help me?” He asked quietly, back to Eridan.

“Yeah.”

“Fine. Then let’s do this bro, we’re makin’ this happen.”

“You’re an idiot.” Eridan said after a moment, Cronus looked back to see him folding a small note of paper and stuffing it into a bottle from the confines of his cape. He corked the top and gave it to a cuttlefish that had been following behind him, a communicator between him and Feferi. “I’m goin’ to send this to Fef who’ll help us out. She’ll meet you in your respiteblock to look at the mutant.”

“Yes because I can just tug Kankri along the halls with no one stoppin’ me. It’s not like he’s in a prison or anythin’.”

Eridan frowned at him, “Come on Cro, use your brain here, I’m beginnin’ to think that your head is only for show. I’ll wait here in his guise while you swim your fat ass back and when the guards finish their last round for the day I’ll slip out. You’ll have about three hours to escape.”

“This plan already sounds like fun, I bet we wont get caught or anythin’. I sure am amazed by your genius and quick thinkin’. And in case you weren’t aware, I’m bein’ sarcastic. Eridan, what then? Do you expect me to just swim out the window with him?”

“Yeah.” Eridan replied with his wand drawn, there was a crackling of energy and both he and Kankri began to shift. A few moments later a very pale Eridan was lying on the floor and Kankri was looking at himself with a wrinkled nose. “The ways that I suffer.” Eridan muttered to himself before flipping Kankri’s shaggy hair out of his face and giving Cronus a look, “That’s exactly what you’re going to do, because that’s the only thing you can do. No one’s goin’ to be expectin’ a sea dweller to be helpin’ a mutant so to be honest if anyone does see you swimmin’ away they’ll think your off to go pail with some unfortunate servant.”

“You don’t have a very high opinion of me do you.”

“The whole palace doesn’t have a high opinion of you.”

“That’s not what the servin’ ladies were sayin’ the other day,” Cronus wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Eridan made a noise of disgust.

“Just get goin’.”

“Aye aye cap’n.” Cronus saluted him, picking up Kankri and then pausing, “Wait, can he breathe like this? I mean it looks like he has gills, cause he’s you, but is that just an illusion? Do I need to get a bubble or somethin’?”

“He’s fine but he’ll need air when I shift us back in a bit. Now I can’t hold this for too long, so leave.”

Cronus turned to leave but was stopped by a last minute request from Eridan.

“If some one asks… at least try to make up an acceptable reason for why I would have fainted.” Eridan sat down against the wall, resting his arm on one knee while the other was crooked, complete confidence exuding from his whole being. It was definitely an odd sight to see with Kankri’s body.

“I’ll sea what I can do.”

“Don’t mock me.”


	6. Chapter 6

The first thing Kankri was aware of was a burning sensation in his mouth. It hurt to move his tongue, which was frustrating because that was probably his greatest and only asset. The next thing he was aware of was a warm presence by his side. He cracked an eye open but closed it immediately when pain racked his head from the sudden bright exposure. Where was he this time? His cell wasn’t this light.

He reached out a hand, grimacing at the pain and discomfort, until his fingers touched soft hair… and was that hair gel? His hand explored further, trying to identify the troll at his side, until he heard a low, sleepy chuckle and the head nestled deeper into his side. 

_Cronus_. Kankri let out a sigh before trying to crack his eyes open once more. It still hurt, but the pain was bearable this time. Cronus was sleeping to his right, both his head and a hand resting against Kankri’s side. He looked around the respiteblock, he was still underwater but he was in a different location this time and was resting on the side of a very plush human bed. The windows were thrown open and several sea creatures swam in and out of them frequently. The bed was surrounded in an air bubble with Cronus half in and half out of it. 

“Oh my glub! You’re awake!” A girl exclaimed from outside the air bubble, she had been floating by the window with a small group of cuttlefish. “Let me sea how you’re feeling, any pain?” She swam closer, shoving Cronus out of his spot and leaning over the bed to open Kankri’s mouth without any concern of personal space.

“Wazzup?” Cronus mumbled sleepily from the floor, holding his head and peaking above the side of the bed. “Kanny! You’re awake!” He said, smiling excitedly like a grub on the 12th of Perigee. 

Feferi sat down on the bed, releasing Kankri who turned a glare towards Cronus. She giggled and said to Cronus, “He’ll live, and I’d suggest you don’t do a lot of physical activity, but I have an inkling from Eridan’s message that that’s next on your agenda. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go check on my glubbing idiot of a moirail. I can’t believe that he’s charging into this kind of situation without thinking, he’s really trying my patience lately.” She stood up, entering the water once more.

“Go easy on him Fef, he’s not the asshole he always tries to be.” Cronus advised her, and she gave him a sly grin.

“He’s an Ampora, you’re all assholes.”

Cronus laughed, “Fair enough, thanks again lil’ miss.”

“Stay safe Cronus.” She swam energetically out of the space, a small swarm of cuttlefish tried to follow her but a slitherbeast stopped them at the door, herding them back to the open windows. 

“Alright chief, we’re gonna have to work fast if we want this to work.” Cronus said, standing up and clapping his hands together. Kankri raised his eyebrow in question and Cronus face palmed, dragging his hand down his face, “I forgot, you were out of it durin’ all that chitchat. Well, to be frank, I’m bustin’ you out!” He said cheerily, as if that wasn’t committing a heinous crime that would result in both of them being culled. 

Kankri crossed his arms and frowned at him. Cronus looked a little taken aback, “I didn’t think you’d be adverse to it, what’s so wrong with gettin’ out of this place?” He paused, “Oh yeah, you probably can’t answer me for a lil’ while.”

Kankri didn’t like the look that came on Cronus’ face when the sea dweller leered at him, “I guess that means you can’t say no.” The slitherbeast swimming around made a beeline to Cronus. It barreled in to the back of Cronus’ head and the troll bent over, shielding himself from the attack, “Ouch, ow! I’m sorry! I was kiddin’! Come on Mayor!” 

When the creature let up Cronus looked back up to catch a smile on Kankri’s face. Kankri quickly changed his expression back to impassive but Cronus knew what he saw, so Kankri wasn’t too angry with him. “You know, I am serious, I’m gettin’ you outta here whether you want to or not. I’m not gonna let them kill you. You probably don’t trust me at all, but I mean it.” He said sincerely, kneeling on the floor and resting his elbows on the bed, putting his chin in his hands while he looked at Kankri. “Besides I promised your old man I’d help you.”

Kankri looked surprised and motioned for something to write with. Cronus grimaced, “Yeah, about that, see, my room’s kinda submerged, and paper and water don’t really mix, and Eridan isn’t here to waterproof some paper for me. I don’t do a lot of writing unless it’s for music… which I usually don’t write, I just memorize.”

Kankri rolled his eyes and huffed, _Sometimes I don’t think sea dwellers thought this whole living underwater thing all the way through_. They sat in silence for a moment before Cronus grabbed his hand, making Kankri freeze and glare at him, trying to pull away. 

“Now just wait a second, see, I don’t have paper, but,” He laid his own hand palm up on the bed and traced a letter with Kankri’s finger on it, “We can improvise a lil’.” He let go of Kankri’s hand, who immediately retracted his palm and held it against his chest. Cronus laughed, a little sadly, “Yeah, I guess it was a stupid idea.” He pulled back his hand and looked out the window, thinking about how fast he could swim, as that was their escape plan. Jumping out the window. Eridan had apparently thought that was going to be enough, and since Cronus saw no other option he was going to have to make it work.

He felt a hand pull his back down and he looked at Kankri, surprised. Kankri was blushing furiously, but he held Cronus’ hand in his own, tracing letters very carefully in his palm.

“Idi9t.”

“Did you just use a nine for an o?”

“Shut up. D9 y9u realize exactly what y9u are pr9p9sing? This is highly inappr9priate f9r a tr9ll 9f y9ur rank, even m9re s9 6ecause I’m a mutant. Why are y9u even d9ing this? If they catch us then y9u’ll 6e culled al9ng with me. Y9u 9nly just met me, 9n the same day 9f my 6r9ther’s death, and n9w all 9f a sudden y9u’re planning 9n thr9wing y9ur life away? And what a69ut my father? Are we expected t9 just leave him here where he is 9nly g9ing t9 die? Y9u and he 69th expect me t9 6e 9kay with that? And where are we supp9sed t9 g9? D9 y9u have any plan after we get 9ut? This isn’t s9me kind 9f gru6 st9ry where every9ne gets a happy ending-“ Kankri’s writing started out slow and then gradually increased speed, towards the end of it Cronus wasn’t sure exactly what he was saying but he got the feeling he was getting a lecture. He grabbed Kankri’s hand to pause him, so that he could get a word in.

“I know exactly what I’m proposin’ chief, I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t. Don’t mistake me, this isn’t some Trollio and Juliet scenario, I’m doin’ this cause I want to and for no other reason.”

“Y9u’ll 6e culled al9ng with me.”

“A risk I’m willin’ to take.”

“D9 y9u have a plan after we get 9ut?”

“We’ll figure it out as we go. First comes the escape, then we can worry about the small details.”

“What a69ut my father?”

“He can’t come with us, I’m sorry Kankri, but you know yourself that it’s an improbability. He told me to get you out of here and that’s what I’m goin’ to do, he already knows about his own fate.”

Kankri grimaced, “There’s n9 9ther way? It d9esn’t feel right t9 leave him.”

“It’s what he wants.”

That made Kankri pause and he looked away, thinking back to his own situation in the throne room. It wasn’t what he wanted; it was what needed to be done. 

“Fine. Where’s my shirt?” Kankri asked, just noticing his bare chest. There were a few cuts and bandages decorating it, but there were significantly less than he remembered receiving. He figured that’s what the girl had been there for, which would explain her sudden lack of personal space issues and his violated mouth. 

“Yeah, it’s not really a shirt anymore. You can borrow one of mine if you’re embarrassed, but personally I think you’re better off without it.” Cronus winked and Kankri leveled him with a look, not amused.

“Fin, fin,” Cronus swam to his closet, and chuckled at his own fish pun. He sifted through the clothes looking for something that might suit the troll but all he had was white shirts, which were a few sizes too large for Kankri. He grabbed one of the t-shirts, “You’re gonna have to make do with this.” He said, coming back over and tossing it on Kankri’s lap. 

Kankri cringed at the wet slap as the shirt landed, wringing it out with a sigh and putting it on, wincing a bit at some stretched wounds. He was about to get all wet anyways so he couldn’t complain too much. The style was a little lacking though.

Cronus looked at him, and held back a laugh, biting his lip. “So, uh, you ready chief?” The shirt was huge on him; it was more like a dress.

Kankri nodded and Cronus sat on the edge of the bed, his back to Kankri. “Hop on princess.”

Kankri slapped the back of his head before climbing on, his legs locking around Cronus’ waist and hands resting on his shoulders. Was there really that much of a physical difference between them? Cronus had an unfair advantage. He was always swimming; of course he’d have more muscles. 

“You’re gonna wanna hold tighter than that.” Cronus commented, noting Kankri’s light grip on his shoulders. When Kankri’s fingers only slightly tightened Cronus grabbed his hands, pulling them so that his arms were wrapped around his neck. “Like a barnacle. We’re gonna have to go fast.” 

Kankri nodded, nose pressed against Cronus’ neck. Cronus chuckled; he could definitely appreciate this position. 

When they stepped into the water Cronus summoned a small bubble for Kankri, the kind of oxygen system one that was used in the dungeon cells. It had to be big enough for Kankri to use but small enough to not disrupt their speed.

The Mayor wound around his arm but Cronus pet his head and gently detangled him, “Sorry buddy, not this time, you gotta stay here.” The beast looked at him solemnly before flicking its tongue softly over his scar. “I’ll miss you too, Fef’ll take good care of you, okay?” Cronus whispered, before turning to the window and taking a deep breath. 

Swimming was a lot different when carrying some one, luckily Cronus had practice from when Eridan was a wriggler and they used to be a lot closer. They shot out of the window and Cronus rose diagonally upward, he couldn’t go too high too fast otherwise the sudden change in pressure would be too much for Kankri. What he had to focus on was just getting distance between him and the palace. It was eerily silent and he felt vulnerable in his ascension. 

When he felt slight vibrations behind him, presumably from a guard coming to check out who was swimming by, he kicked up the speed. They may just look like two trolls going on an impromptu outing but with a close enough look Kankri could easily be identified. 

He could feel Kankri’s grip tighten as he sped up, could feel him shifting to match the movements of his swimming. There was something about the hands clasped around him that sent a spark through his body, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t feeling flushed for the guy, but this was something entirely new. It wasn’t pity he was feeling.

Love? A voice whispered in the back of his mind, and he ground his teeth together. Trolls weren’t capable of love, were they? That was stuff for humans, pity was supposed to be its equivalent, and yet the more he thought about it, the more the idea grew on him. And who was to say that trolls were so different from humans? He sure felt an affinity more with them than his own species.

Maybe he did love Kankri. 

That only served to crush his hopes even more though, because he already knew Kankri was only pale, if anything, for him. Cronus highly doubted that he’d accept an alien emotion, and besides, love didn’t fit in the quadrants. As his thoughts spiraled into darker corners their surroundings grew lighter. 

When they reached the surface and Cronus was pretty sure he’d be celibate for his entire life he turned to look at Kankri’s face and was startled by the large grin. The sight of Kankri’s smile made every thought disappear from his mind until all he could think of was, _so what?_

He’d follow this mutant anywhere.


	7. Chapter 7

Kankri was surrounded by silence, being gently bobbed up and down from the waves. The sun would rise in an hour or so; the faint rays were just beginning to show over the horizon. They were in the middle of the sea, apparently Cronus wasn’t as directionally savvy as he had thought, and it was their seventh day without sighting land. Luckily enough Cronus was an excellent hunter and knew how to spend long amounts of time out at sea, Kankri didn’t really mind it but he would prefer to be back on dry ground as soon as possible. 

At the moment he was laying on Cronus’ chest to prevent accidental drowning while he slept. It had been Cronus’ idea and Kankri had relented only because of the logic and definitely not because contact with the sea dweller made him feel safe and a couple other things he couldn’t discern yet. 

Their schedules were a bit messed up; they made progress during the day and slept at night. When they swam during the day Cronus took them beneath the waves to get away from the harsh sun, during the night they floated aimlessly along the surface so that Cronus could rest his magic and regain his energy. Cronus seemed to have an automatic buoyancy organ within him because he floated effortlessly even with another troll on top of him.

Kankri looked at the sleeping troll, Cronus’ face was underwater and every now and then he’d breath out little bubbles. Kankri wondered if that was an underwater way of snoring and chuckled. His tongue was almost completely healed though there was a scar on it from the brand and he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to taste anything ever again. It was a small price to pay though for his otherwise good health.

Cronus had gradually filled him in on the details of what exactly he had been there for, though the troll had been reluctant at first. The Signless had been captured the same day they had come for Kankri, there had been a patrol following him as he went from the mainland to the isolated island. Kankri had been brought to the sea palace as a trump card against the Signless; the Empress had thought he’d stand down if his son were brought into the equation, which was proved wrong very quickly.

The Signless had sparked a revolution to overthrow the blood hierarchy, preaching about equality for all trolls. The Empress had been counseled to try and stop the revolution peacefully; apparently she just wanted to kill everyone, after the negotiations Kankri was pretty sure she’d go through with her original plan. 

It made sense now, all those times that the Signless had been gone. He could understand why the Signless felt the need to speak but Kankri couldn’t help but feel resentful that his father was taking such risks without even warning him or Karkat. They could have avoided this all if he had just told them. Karkat would still be alive, and Kankri wouldn’t have been captured, and they could have been ready to fight. 

_He was probably tryin’ to keep you out of it all, wanted to fix it on his own so that you guys weren’t put in danger. Cronus had said, He probably thought that his hive was under the radar and you guys would be safe._

_Yeah, well he was wrong._ Had been Kankri’s only words and Cronus had laughed.

_You can’t blame him too much chief, we all make mistakes, and he’s only one troll. We never want to think of our caretakers as not bein’ perfect but it’s a truth we all gotta face some time. He has the right idea; though I’m not sure his peaceful resistance is gonna get very far. It seems like nothing can be changed without violence in this world._

Sometimes Cronus surprised Kankri with his wisdom, other times he acted like he was still a grub.

_Hey Kanny, wanna see if I can do a flip with you on my back?_

_I have absolutely no desire to see that, we both know it’ll end horribly with me getting water up my nose and you laughing your fins off. You seem to not have taken into consideration that I am a land troll and this is the most that I have ever been in water before, I am not experienced in any of your tricks and ridiculous challenges. I would also like you to stop calling me by that shortened name as I have asked you several times now-_

Cronus had proceeded to try two flips, and they ended just as Kankri had predicted.

Kankri laid his head back on Cronus’ chest, thinking about his father and what was to happen to him. A familiar feeling started to run through him and he completely stilled, hands clutching Cronus’ shirt; eyes wide open and staring at the horizon. Darkness clouded his vision. He had thought he was done with these visions; he hadn’t had anymore since the death of Karkat. 

Kankri’s breathing stopped at that thought and the vision took hold. 

_Where was he? He was outside, within a crowd of people. It was a strange crowd; half of them were staring, stoic and silent while the other half were jeering at something up ahead. Kankri pushed through them, trying to find the center. Some one was talking up ahead and the rest of the crowd fell silent. One voice rang throughout the clearing, it was deep, pained and betrayed. It was strong, kind, and forgiving. It was the voice of his father._

_He couldn’t make out the words. What was he saying? Kankri feverishly ran through the people. He couldn’t hear. The words were muffled. Why were so many people there? Was there even an end to them?_

_Finally there was a break and he was staring at the Signless chained to a foreboding boulder, black as night. His hands were held above his head, shackles glowing red from the fiery heat they withheld. He was scarred, bruised, and bleeding yet he still held his head high. He was staring into the eyes of a blue blood across from him, one who currently had his death notched and ready to fly._

_Another troll was kneeling on the ground, restrained, tears streaming down her face. She didn’t bother to hide them, silent as they dripped. She was being strong for him, though it looked as though she wanted to tear everyone apart and struggle against her bonds. She looked at the Signless like he looked at his own sons, and it gave Kankri an idea as to who she was._

_As the arrow flew to its mark, the Signless looked to her. Staring into her eyes with his last few moments. Another troll screamed his name as he slumped forward, his head hanging low, blood blossoming across his chest and seeping from his heart. The troll who screamed was the next one to be culled, as she was pulled in front of the executioner._

Kankri only had enough time to see another faltering arrow be notched before his vision became dark once more and he found himself breathing hard against Cronus’ chest, back in the safety of the sea. 

Tears were streaming down his face as he stared numbly at his fingers. The only thing he could hear was the beating of Cronus’ heart, uncommonly slow and strong. 

He was the last one left. His family was all gone now.

_They were all gone._

Cronus’ arms tightened around him and Kankri could hear the sea dweller’s heartbeat quicken. 

“Wvhat’s up chief?” Cronus asked softly, his voice having a more pronounced accent from him still being underwater and Kankri above it. He rubbed Kankri’s shoulder, “Thinking about your pops? I’m sure he’s still fine.” Cronus said although his words had a hollow ring to them, he knew that was probably far from the truth.

Kankri shook his head, burrowing deeper into Cronus’ chest, seeking a comfort he hadn’t felt in a long time. “He’s not alright,” Kankri mumbled, “Although I guess maybe he is in a way I don’t know, I don’t _know_. He’s dead that’s what I know that’s what I don’t want to know but I know because I’m so screwed up that I had to watch all of my family die regardless of if I was with them or not and he might not even be dead but he’s going to die because I can’t get to him to alter anything and he’s gonna die and I have to sit here and know that he’s going to die!”

“Wvoah, slowv dowvn there Kanny, wvhat are you talkin’ about? You sawv him die? Howv?” 

Kankri whispered something so quietly Cronus had to lean closer to him, surfacing from the water, “Repeat please?”

“I see things.” He said at the same volume, Cronus had to strain to hear, “Although they’ve only been about my family, I think it’s rather linked to trolls with mutant blood, of which I think I’m the only one left now at this point in time. Or will be at any rate.” 

“You’re a seer?” Cronus asked incredulously, wondering how this information had slipped by him from their frequent talks. When he thought about it more though it definitely seemed obvious that Kankri wouldn’t tell him, that wasn’t something you just went and blabbed about. 

He didn’t ask what he had seen; he could put that together easily enough.

Cronus’ hands ran up and down Kankri’s arms, every now and then smoothing over his back and papping his curls softly. “Hey, it’s okay chief,” He pulled Kankri up, rearranging them so that his feet were slowly treading in the water. He pressed his face into Kankri’s hair, hugging him close. Kankri’s shoulders shook but he was otherwise quiet, trying to compose himself.

After a few moments when Kankri was better they continued on their way, Kankri silent and Cronus doing what little he could to try and cheer him up. Whether it was a stupid joke or even saying something wrong just so he could get Kankri to correct him, he tried everything. At the end of the day he had succeeded a bit, Kankri was more relaxed and was talking about his particular views on the consequences between a grub growing up with a lusus and without. 

It seemed like he was almost back to normal. 

When they stopped for that night Cronus found out how scared Kankri actually was. He started to have horrorterrors after that vision, though he wouldn’t tell Cronus what they were about. Cronus didn’t press, though maybe that was a mistake on his part. 

This night was no different. He was woken up by claws digging into his back, making him think for a moment that he was back in the palace before he opened his eyes and saw the pained face of a sleeping Kankri. 

“Hey, hey Kankri, wake up,” He nudged the mutant blood’s shoulder and grazed a hand along his cheek but Kankri was unresponsive. That wasn’t uncommon, but it was getting more and more frustrating. The way Kankri looked to him for comfort echoed with one of Cronus’ memories from when he was a wriggler. 

_It was the middle of the morning when Cronus felt a thin presence slip next to him, beneath his human covers. He peeked open an eye to see Eridan looking at him uncertainly, like he wasn’t sure if it was right that he was doing this. Like he wasn’t sure if it was allowed._

_Cronus chuckled, that had been the first day Eridan saw Gl’bgolyb. He couldn’t have been more than three sweeps; it was a lot to take in at such a young age, especially considering the lusus was the manifestation of every grub’s horrorterrors._

_Cronus smirked and draped an arm over him, allowing Eridan to tunnel closer. He began to hum softly, one of the tunes he had been working on that day, and as the song carried on he felt Eridan relax and sleep._

That had been one of the last times Eridan showed him any weakness.

Cronus ran a hand through Kankri’s curls, thinking back to happier memories. He began to hum softly; sometimes words would filter in as scraps of poems ran through his mind. For the most part it was just a simple tune, reverberating in a voice that was a little scratchy with sleep. 

Kankri’s hands released his back after a moment, and Cronus continued until he was sure that Kankri was fine once more. He did this every night from then on whenever Kankri had a horrorterror, sometimes waking him up and other times just soothing him into a better dream. 

He knew Kankri was aware he did this, but they never spoke of it. That was the most curious thing, which Cronus didn’t understand. Kankri just accepted it; he didn’t ask Cronus to stop touching him like usual and he didn’t shy away. Cronus thought they were definitely edging on pale now, but he was afraid of bringing it up in case it ruined whatever they had started. 

They were currently swimming as Cronus was contemplating this; well Cronus was swimming as Kankri was holding on to him. They found out the first day that Kankri swam slower than a shellbeast. Suddenly Kankri’s arms tightened around him and a hand hit the back of his head, “Owv, wvhat, wvhat?” Cronus complained, turning to see Kankri grinning.

“Land ho I believe is the adequate term for the sight of land, I do believe I see a mass of ground before us!” Kankri was bouncing up and down like a little wriggler, pointing. Sure enough Cronus looked forward to see the dark spread of land ahead of them with what looked like the bottom of several docks and the underbellies of ships. From the size of them he guessed it was a seaport, which meant it was a fairly large city with a population consisting mainly of lowbloods who would be tough, large, and scary looking. Half of them would have the bite to back up their bark.

“Alright settle down you little grub, you’re making me off course.” 

Kankri snuggled closer to him, “Alright, though the term grub could be triggering, not necessarily to me but to other trolls my age because growing up is a rather tough trial to go through and being reminded of their earlier stages in life could-“

“Kankri?”

“Yes?”

“Hush.”

Kankri giggled, “Aye captain.”


	8. Chapter 8

Cronus rose above the water, latching onto one of the docks and pulling himself up. He glanced around for a moment to make sure no one was paying them any attention before he reached a hand down to help Kankri up as well.

They received a few strange looks while walking down the large market street, but otherwise no one paid any attention to them. Cronus was a little irked by the lack of respect as shoulder after shoulder smashed into him. He wasn’t used to people not moving out of the way for him and his anger slowly started to stew in the back of his mind. Every now and then he’d shake out his hands, which would slowly curl back into fists.

Kankri was smaller and wove in and out of the crowd expertly. He had an unfair advantage, having a slim build. It was all Cronus could do to keep up with him, the faster he moved the more trolls he ran into, thus slowing him down. He really didn’t like this crowd business.

The messy black curls ahead of him slipped further and further out of sight. 

“Kankri!” He called out, “Wait up!”

Kankri didn’t stop though, it seemed as though he had spotted something of interest and the mutant-blood sped up.

“Hey chief!” Cronus picked up his pace, shoving through the thick crowd. When Kankri was nowhere to be seen he stopped, panic beginning to rise as he ran a hand through his hair. “Kanny!”

“Cronus! Over here!” Cronus turned to Kankri’s voice, seeing the troll off to the side by an alleyway. He was waving a pack of cigarettes in his hand and was looking at Cronus triumphantly. The little shit bought him cigarettes.

“Don’t fuckin’ scare me like that chief, you disappeared on me and fuck if I’m gonna stay in this place without you.” Cronus ran up to his side, putting his hands on Kankri’s shoulders and turning him around to check him for any damage that could have been inflicted during their two minutes apart.

“Sorry Cronus, but I got you these! I thought that you would appreciate them even though I don’t necessarily condone them since they are harmful to your health.”

“Thanks Kankri, though next time warn me when you ditch me eh?”

“Yes sir.”

“I was more so looking for a,” Cronus’ voice switched to a falsetto, “Oh Cronus, I’ll never leave your hunky piece of choice ass, I’m swoonin’ for you, catch me Cronus!”

“My voice sounds nothing like that.”

“It does when you ditch me and I have to have a pretend Kankri.”

“This is not a healthy relationship.”

“So we are in a relationship?”

“No, fuck you very much.”

“Oh, we’re in that kind of relationship. Look at you, using big boy words, I think we’ve spent too much time together.”

Kankri threw the cigarettes at Cronus’ head, who caught them with a smirk, “Come on chief, I gotta have some kind of fun. We’re two guys, takin’ on the world together, bound by our undying bond of bondness. I bond you Kankri. Do you bond me?”

“I can’t take you seriously right now. Look, the seller that gave me those said there was an inn on the other side of the block, just up ahead at that right turn it should lead to the next street.”

Cronus grimaced. “Cause getting directions from a shady cig seller doesn't sound shady at all.”

“Well if I have my knight in violet armor, what’s there to be afraid of?”

“You have a point. Lead on fair maiden.”

Kankri rolled his eyes and set off, Cronus following close behind. They turned the corner and Cronus frowned, this little side street was strangely empty, as though cut off from the rest of the city.

The windows above them were all boarded shut. Cronus was just about to tell Kankri that they should probably rethink this when a large shape formed in front of them. Cronus turned around to see another big troll block them from behind.

“Yeah, let’s listen to the shady guy sellin’ cigs, he really cares for our well bein’.” Cronus said sarcastically, raising his fists.

“There was no viable reason to not trust the man, I try not to judge people based on their looks, that’s why I’m still around you.”

“Fuckin’ great.” 

The troll in front of Kankri, which Cronus dubbed Bulge, started towards him menacingly. “The mutant blood’s on my side, you take out the other one.”

The other troll, dubbed Licker, let out a whine, “You always get the easy job. I want the mutant blood, we don’t have to fight those ones, just sell ‘em and reap the benefits.”

“Then maybe next time you should choose this side.” Bulge said snarkily. 

Cronus held up a hand, “Can we not? You know, do any of this? Cause we really don’t have time for this. Things to do, trolls to see, that kind of business.”

“Think you’re a real smart guy, do yah?” Licker advanced at Cronus.

“Not really, no, I just think it’s pointless for you guys to fight me when you’re just gonna lose.” Okay that definitely wasn’t what he had planned on saying.

Licker charged at Cronus who feinted to the right before ducking under the large troll’s left, his fist crashing into his opponent’s stomach. He twisted around the troll and smashed his elbow into his back, sending the troll tumbling to the ground. 

Cronus turned around to see the other troll grabbing Kankri who turned within his grasp, shooting his palm upwards into the troll’s nose and breaking it. He then kneed him in the groin and sent the enemy tumbling to the ground. He dusted off his hands, turning to Cronus with a smile. 

Cronus, impressed, grinned back. He reached out a hand to clap Kankri on the shoulder and make some smart-ass remark about his fighting abilities when the glint of steel appeared at Kankri’s neck. Cronus’ face froze as another opponent appeared behind Kankri, one who had waited in the shadows to catch them off guard. Kankri drew in a surprised breath as the knife broke skin and then all time stretched out, the anger that Cronus had felt within him boiling over. 

One heart beat. 

Two.

Before the large troll could blink his head was snapped to the side by the force of Cronus’ punch. There was an audible crack and the troll flew to the ground by his companion, but Cronus didn’t stop there.

He jumped onto the troll, straddling him and sending punch after punch to his face a frenzy flowing through his blood. His knuckles split open but that only made Cronus smile.

Know your place lowbloods. 

Don’t touch what’s mine.

Then Kankri’s hands were around his chest, pulling him back, bringing him up from the ocean and into the clear night sky. Kankri slid a hand to cover his eyes, blocking out the sight of the blood before him, murmuring in his ear all the while.

“It’s alright Cronus, shhhh, it’s alright. I’m fine. You’re fine, shhhh.”

Cronus slowly relaxed into Kankri’s chest as the mutant blood’s words gradually reached him. Kankri’s hands ran all over him, trying to soothe but not having any idea of how to go about doing it. Usually it was Cronus doing the comforting. Cronus grabbed Kankri’s hands in his, his head bowing over them and just holding them still, clutched to his chest. 

He felt the anger slowly start to drain out of him, and he was left numb, his senses dulled as blood beat in his ears. Horror then took the place of anger, filling him. He had snapped so easily. He thought he had so much control, prided himself on it even, but yet he hadn’t hesitated when the thought of killing the trolls entered his mind. 

If Kankri hadn’t stopped him, he would have murdered them.

He still wanted to murder them.

Don’t fuck with my shit.

Maybe his father was right. He was Dualscar’s son, destined to bring pain wherever he went.

The sound of the busy street reached his ears once more and he jumped up, startled. One of Kankri’s hands was still held in his as he pulled him up. “We have to go before any of their buddies get curious.” 

They reached the end of the side street and turned a corner so they were out of sight of the main road. Cronus leaned against the wall for a moment with Kankri’s hand still clutched in his. 

Kankri looked down at Cronus’ hand, the knuckles were split in several places but they were already beginning to heal. He never knew violet-bloods were such fast healers; it was no wonder Dualscar hadn’t shown any wounds from when Kankri had attacked him. Blood from the other trolls was all over Cronus’ shirt, a stark contrast against the white. They’d have to buy him something new otherwise they’d be getting a lot of suspicious looks.

Kankri grimaced; he couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been. He had forgotten about his eyes, having been raised so long in isolation, he hadn’t thought that people would notice them so easily. 

He’d have to find some glasses to cover them.

Cronus wasn’t looking at him, though the grip on his hand was tight. It hadn’t seemed like Cronus back there, during the fight. That Cronus had been unfamiliar and merciless, he had been looking at the trolls as if they were filth beneath his feet. Kankri hadn’t thought that it was true, about highbloods being more unstable than middleclass and lowbloods, but now that he’d seen it first hand... Well, he wished it had been just a myth. 

He had been surprised that Cronus hadn’t attacked him. When Kankri held him, Cronus had frozen almost instantly, like something had been switched off. It was such a sudden change. Kankri hadn’t been sure after initially pulling him back and stopping him if he should still comfort Cronus, but when he looked in his confused and shocked violet eyes he knew Cronus needed it.

Cronus didn’t make a move to lead them anywhere so Kankri took the lead, tugging Cronus along. He had never been one to look for contact with other members of his species, but for some reason with Cronus it was different. 

A few buildings down Kankri spotted just what he was looking for. In front of them stood a large fashion boutique, several stories high with jade green curtains floating elegantly from the windows. 

Before they entered Kankri tousled the front of his hair, which had grown long enough to cover his eyes. Sure, it was hard to see, but he’d rather not put Cronus through a fight again. Kankri wasn’t sure if he’d be able to call him out of his frenzy a second time.

The entrance bell chimed delicately and two women looked up to take stock of their customers. 

They looked positively horrified. 

“Kanaya, please tell me that I’m not seeing what I think I’m seeing.” The older of the two woman said, her arms crossed as she leaned against the register counter. She had several piercings and dark tattoos spiraled down her pale arms, disappearing into her fashionable dress. What was the most odd part though, was that she was a jade blood and wasn’t working with the mother grub. Jade bloods were rare and were trained to care for the mother grub at a young age. Kankri wondered why she was exempt from the duty.

The younger of the two women, Kanaya, grimaced, “I’m afraid that’s exactly what you’re seeing. How fashion has degraded so much in society today is a wonder. I think that it’s starting to become more fashionable to dress badly with the way things are going.” She was a more toned down version of the older woman. Kanaya had an older and elegant style with no tattoos or piercings. Her hair was also cut short in a stylish bob, which contrasted with the wild, long black hair of the older woman.

“We’d like to buy some shirts, if you wouldn’t mind.” Kankri said, his eyes falling to the ground. 

“I should hope so. Kanaya, be a dear and help them out?” The older woman said, grinning at Kanaya and revealing two long and dangerous looking fangs, they were abnormal even for troll standards.

“You’re only saying that because you don’t want to move, Porrim.” Kanaya rolled her eyes at her and guided the two customers further into the store. 

Porrim watched them curiously; they weren’t like the usual customers that came in. They didn’t even look like regular trolls that lived in that city; they were too soft around the edges. The smaller troll seemed a little jumpy, it was endearing, although she wanted to burn the oversized shirt that he was wearing. It was obviously an outfit from the sea dweller’s collection, whose own matching shirt was stained with blood.

What exactly had they gotten into?

Kankri looked up at Cronus as he held out another white shirt, feeling the eyes of both store clerks on the back of his head. He didn’t know what was up with them but they wouldn’t stop staring at him and Cronus. Sure they weren’t average trolls, but they weren’t that weird looking, were they?

Cronus frowned at the white shirt in his hands, “It’s just not the same chief.”

“How is this not the same, it’s the same white shirt that you always wear. The only things it’s missing are those pointless purple lines that normally grace everything in your wardrobe.”

“It’s just not right!”

“It’s the same damn thing!”

Cronus sighed as Kankri added it to their “buy” list. Some people just didn’t appreciate his style. Kanaya looked at them, amused, before picking out a few more garments for Kankri.

It was painfully obvious Kankri wanted the colorful ones, but for some reason the troll only grabbed the dark garments. They brought the clothes up to the counter; Kanaya hung back by the racks to fix up what wasn’t chosen.

“You sure you don’t want any of those clothes Kan?”

“I don’t wish to be conspicuous.”

“That’s a shame darling, I have a feeling red would suit you very well.” Porrim said as she rang up their price. She leaned forward on the counter while she waited for Cronus to grab their money. That was when Kankri noticed she was wearing a small silver necklace with a special symbol hanging off it. It was vaguely familiar, though he couldn’t place where he’d seen it before.

“Can I ask where you obtained that necklace?” Kankri asked out of curiosity, before he could stop himself.

Porrim frowned and stood up straight, her hand coming up to grab it. Kanaya acted similarly, holding her own necklace and looking across at Porrim. “It’s nothing noteworthy, we received them from our mother.” Porrim said without inflection in her voice.

So the two women were family? It was rare for trolls to admit to having a family, and even more rare since the only way a troll could receive grubs was when it was beneficial to the guardian troll, but they were just running a shop. It shouldn’t have even been allowed. 

Kankri looked away, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked, it’s none of my business.”

“Don’t worry about it dear, you’re such a little cutie I’ll forgive you.” Porrim winked at him with a grin before Cronus cut in between them and slapped the money down on the counter.

“This should be enough to cover it, thanks very much for your services.” Cronus said, jealously burning in his stomach. He grabbed the clothes and ushered Kankri to the door. 

Kankri frowned. He had to have seen that symbol before; he knew it was familiar, something recent. He looked down at the hand encircling his wrist, Cronus’s grip was tight, but not harmful, that wasn’t what he was concerned about though. A flash of red went through his vision and his father’s execution was brought to the front of his memory. The trolls who had been executed had all been wearing that necklace.

He turned sharply, eyes wide as he looked at Porrim, “The Signless.” He breathed. 

Porrim looked at him in surprise, “The Sufferer.” She corrected, before she pointed to her eyes. “Your blood is showing dear.” 

Kanaya smoothly stepped in front of them, cutting them off from the door. Cronus moved between her and Kankri, ready if they had to fight, but she shook her head. “We can help.”

“Your call chief.” Cronus said, looking to Kankri.

“Let’s hear them out. I want to know more about them.”

“Good call darling,” Porrim opened a door behind her that led further into the building, “Come inside and have some tea while we discuss this matter.”

Kankri and Cronus followed her; the sea dweller more cautious, he didn’t see any reason to fully trust these two trolls yet and things could go really sour from here. 

Neither of them was expecting what they saw on the other side of the door.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bluh, this chapter was unnecessarily hard and I will be having a stern talking to it later. Sorry in advance for any typos, I'll run through it a couple more times to double check.

Ten large, tough looking trolls lounged on the elegant couches placed about the living room. Their intimidating, large bodies didn’t fit with the décor and seemed to take up the entire space. They all turned simultaneously to stare at Kankri and Cronus as they entered behind Porrim. Kankri swallowed and slipped behind Cronus, looking out past the sea dweller’s shoulder.  
“Don’t mind them, we all have a common enemy, they’re just curious.” Porrim said, leading them past the trolls and into a smaller parlor. There was only one troll in this space; he was sitting on a couch with a four-wheeled device in his hands. It looked as though he was trying to fix it; several parts were strewn around him. 

He turned to them, though his bushy, wild hair covered his eyes so Kankri couldn’t tell where exactly he was looking. The troll smiled when he saw Porrim and he waved, “Hey Prim, w-where ith Kanya?” His speech was a bit off, and wasn’t helped by the presence of a lisp. 

“She’s off making tea for our new guests, Mituna meet Kankri and Cronus.” Porrim gestured to each of them and Mituna waved but then frowned when he saw Cronus’ fins.

“He’th a feckin thitty thea dwoller.” Mituna pointed out, angrily, spilling several screws and metal pieces that had lain across his lap.

“What’s it to you land dweller?” Cronus asked, irked. 

“Don’t wanna tulk to you.” Mituna looked back down at his device with a frown firmly in place. 

“Mituna’s had bad experiences with sea dwellers in the past, most of us have, but his was the worst.” Porrim explained, smiling apologetically to Cronus who sat down with a sigh at the center table with Kankri. 

Kankri patted his hand before looking at Porrim, “What is this place? I’d be hesitant to call it a sanctuary, that doesn’t seem to quite fit the picture.”

“Ith home.” Mituna said, looking up at Kankri who was surprised at the human term for a hive. He set his device to the side and stood up, brushing the rest of the screws on to the floor. “I’m gunna find Thol and KK.” He announced to Porrim who nodded.

“Be careful out there, don’t talk to anyone and keep your head low all right baby?” She said, using a human endearment. Kankri noticed that Porrim like pet names. 

Mituna smiled and blushed happily, “Yeth ma’am.” Before heading out the door, tripping before he reached the other room and spewing expletives. Kankri’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at seeing Mituna’s eyes. He was a psychic? Weren’t they all designated to labor or slavery jobs from a young age? Though from Mituna’s speech it would be likely that he’d be culled before he completed any work. The Alternian society disliked any kind of weakness, which was why mutant-bloods were culled on sight, because they were generally weaker than other trolls.

It would seem that this place really was a safe haven. He wondered how many other trolls were there that would normally be dead at this point; it was amazing that simply having a place to live could save them. Although he supposed that was what happened with him as well, with the Signless taking him in.

“Seems like a bit of a safety hazard.” Cronus said, eyeing the troll as he left.

“He wasn’t always like that.” Porrim explained as Kanaya entered the room with their tea on a silver platter. She handed each of them their cups and poured with practiced skill. “Mituna used to be a prophet and a highly dangerous psychic. He was living in secret with the Psiionic and his brother, in the entertainment industry. The Psiionic was already in hiding from escaping his duties as a helmsman, he started a circus up as a cover while he traveled with the Sufferer and listened to his sermons.”

“What happened?” Kankri asked, and then he paused, “If that isn’t too rude of me to ask, if you don’t feel up to answering please don’t feel obligated on my behalf and only speak of what you feel comfortable about.”

The Maryams smiled at his sudden politeness and Kanaya continued. “A month ago, shortly after the Sufferer was captured, guards came for our mother and the Psiionic, the Sufferer’s strongest supporters. The raid happened while the Captor’s circus was in the city, and Mituna risked his life to protect us from being taken as well. His bravery was at the cost of his own mind. Mituna wont tell us the whole story, but from what we could gather, the Orphaner was the one who caused his powers to explode. After he woke up, he’s stayed with us.”

Porrim smelled the fragrant citrus from her tea before taking a sip. “He was the one who came up with the idea for this place, our own little resistance. He said that since we had it, we might as well use it for something great. We can carry on the work of our parents.”

Cronus looked down guiltily, pulling out a cigarette but only chewing on the end. His dad was really one of a kind. He thought of Eridan and his brow furrowed, he wished there was some way to know if his little brother was all right. Dualscar was bound to figure out that he had helped him.

“So you’re a resistance?” Cronus asked, “Against sea dwellers?”

Porrim grinned at the suggestion, “No, we’re against those who oppose equality.”

“Our parents may have failed in their mission, but the words of the Sufferer will live on through us. We’re determined to make his dream become a reality. We’ve known him since we were children, our mother raised him as her own, and we will do as she has always done and support him, even after death.” Kanaya said with conviction, she played with the symbol of her necklace while she spoke. “It isn’t even close to being enough, but we wear this for him. For his word, and his memory.” 

It was then that Kankri realized something. Well, more than one thing.

First, was that the Signless had a family larger than just him and Karkat.

Second, the Signless was already dead. He really had had no chance of saving him.

He felt emotions stir within him, but he couldn’t discern between them. He quelled them down, shoving them to the back of his mind while he remembered to breathe as the wound was reopened. 

Cronus noticed a change in Kankri’s expression and he slung his arm around the smaller troll’s shoulders, rubbing his arm in a not-so-rare display of affection and comfort. The unusual thing was that instead of pushing him away Kankri leaned into him. 

The mood in the room was beginning to grow heavy as they all started to sink into darker thoughts. Kanaya stood suddenly, collecting their cups and exchanging a meaningful glance with Porrim before she left the room.

“Now that you’ve heard all we have to tell, will you join us?” Porrim questioned, “We can give you a home, all we ask is your support.”

Kankri looked up at her with tired eyes, “I have one request.” An unsettling tension ran through him as he spoke his next words. With them, he committed himself to this cause, to see his father’s work through to the end.

“Make me something red, as bright as my blood.”

That got a laugh from Porrim who nodded, “Well that’s not much to ask at all. Later this evening we can go over designs that you might prefer, and we can take a look at different dyes.”

“I hate to rain on this parade, but it’s been a long night and I’d really like to get some shut eye.” Cronus stood suddenly and Kankri turned to look up at him.

“Cronus, it’s only a little past midnight.”

“We’ve been up since dawn, and I am emotionally drained Kankers, which is worse than bein’ physically drained in my book. I would really appreciate some recuperation time.” He turned to Porrim, “I don’t suppose you have a respiteblock for us around here, do you now?” Cronus smiled inwardly at the smooth insertion of the word “us” that he had been rehearsing in his mind. He then proceeded to inwardly fist pump when Kankri didn’t mention anything against it.

Porrim pushed her chair back, standing up and motioning to a side door, “We should have something. The rougher looking group you saw earlier just finished an addition on the second floor because we’ve recently had a swell in voluntaries.” 

Through the door was a set of thin stairs, leading up to the second floor. She took them to a room on the far right, unlocking it with a key and handing it to Kankri. “Although we all have a common goal, some trolls find it hard to leave the life they’ve been in till now. In other words, keep your doors locked and all precious items hidden.” She warned, then proceeding to show them a couple of things about the room. 

“Your recuperacoons are a little old, but they’ll still last for a couple of years at least. Across from them are your desks and to the right of those is your linen closet where you’ll find all your towels and where you can store your clothes. There’s a safe beneath the floorboards and the windows don’t open but they do provide a good view. Load gaper’s down the hall, and if there’s anything else you’ll be needing just let me or Kanaya know and we’ll think about your request.” 

Cronus stood in the middle of the room while she spoke and as she left Kankri tapped his shoulder, “I’m going to check out this hive some more and discuss wardrobe with Porrim, I wouldn’t expect me back till later on.”

Cronus nodded his acknowledgement and Kankri left, closing the door softly behind him. It was suddenly very silent and Cronus felt very alone. He turned to look at the closed door, debating if he should go out and follow Kankri but he really was tired and he didn’t want Kankri thinking he was too clingy. 

He sighed and then grimaced at the recuperacoons at the end of the room. His hatred of recuperacoons hadn’t dimmed since he left the palace and the thought of getting full of the disgusting slime was not appealing to him in the slightest. 

Instead he went to the linen closet, first putting away the items that he and Kankri had bought. He slipped on a new shirt, discarding his ruined one in the trash, and then pulled out several towels, lugging them to the small space between the two coons and creating a makeshift nest. He smiled as he worked, thinking back to when he was little and had made blanket forts. There hadn’t been a lot of time to make them between his training, but he liked to think of it as a staple of a troll’s life that one had to make a blanket fort at least once before passing on. 

He snuck into the nest, snuggling around until he was cocooned and warm, his head resting on his arm. He frowned after a moment when he didn’t immediately fall asleep like he had been planning on. 

This was mainly because one thought just kept running through his head at how fast things had just progressed. When they had woken up they had still been out at sea, now he was in a stranger’s hive about to sign his life away to some revolution that was probably going to fail just like the first. The things he was willing to do for Kankri astounded even him. 

“That’s because I l-love him.” He whispered to himself, stuttering a bit on the l in love. “I love, love, love him.” He whispered again, a small smile starting to grow on his lips. He chuckled to himself, pressing his face into his arm in embarrassment. “I love Kankri.” He said, for good measure. He got a little rush from saying it, like it was something forbidden he wasn’t supposed to think about, let alone mention. 

He slowly fell asleep then, every now and then letting out a small chuckle and kicking his feet in excitement before finally dropping off. 

When Kankri walked into the room later he paused in surprise at the sight of a mass of towels between the recuperacoons. “Cronus?” He questioned softly, “Are you still awake? What on Alternia are you doing?” He got no reply and crouched by the pile to see Cronus’ smiling face fast asleep. Kankri rolled his eyes, “Well whatever floats your boat. Oh I wish you had been awake to hear that, I’m sure you would have gotten a kick out of it. I’ll have to save that for later. That was quite clever.” Kankri mused, standing back up to slip out of everything except his shorts. 

He went to his recuperacoon’s edge and glanced between the towel nest and the slime for a few moments, internally debating with himself in a lengthy discussion of the pros and cons of sleeping arrangements. After a few minutes of standing there he crouched by Cronus once more and gingerly snuck beneath the several layers of towels, tunneling up until he was face to face with the sleeping sea dweller. 

Although Cronus normally ran a few degrees colder than the average troll, the makeshift bed was quite warm and Kankri found it rather soothing. Almost as if he could sense him, Cronus reached out with his arm and draped it over Kankri’s waist, pulling him closer. “Mmmm,” the sea dweller hummed, his voice barely coherent, “Ilovu.” 

Kankri raised an eyebrow, “Cronus, are you awake? What does that mean? Is that a code word? I’m not particularly good with code words, you’ll have to give me a hint.” 

He didn’t get a reply, but that had been half expected. Kankri scrunched his face up at Cronus before going to sleep himself, memorizing the word so that he could question Cronus about it when they woke up.

_Ilovu_

_Ilovu_

_Iloveyu_

_Iloveyou_

_I love you_

Kankri’s eyes shot open. He pushed himself up, looking down at Cronus in shock and surprise. “Cronus, do you realize the implications of what you just said? Love doesn’t exist. At least… I don’t think it does.” Kankri turned away from Cronus, lying back down on his side. “I mean, that’s not something for trolls. We weren’t made to love like humans, we were made to pity and hate. Sure there has to be some feelings in between but there could never be anything like love, could there? It’s not like we have any tales about princes rescuing princesses and living happily ever after. I don’t even think we _have_ happily ever afters. Of course you’re probably just saying that because of some dream that you’re having and it doesn’t even apply to me so I really shouldn’t be getting worked up about it, I’m probably getting way ahead of myself and shouldn’t be so arrogant as to think that you’d think like that about me. You must have just been dreaming about your human fairytales and-“

Kankri flinched as Cronus’ arms wrapped around him. “What are you goin’ on about Kanny?”

“Your inappropriate use of the term love, although I realize that you may have just been saying that because of an altered state of mind while sleeping.”

“I love you chief.”

Kankri turned to face him, angrily and ready to lecture, “Cronus-“

“Come on, does it really matter what I call it if the feelin’ is still there regardless? You can call it pity if you want, if that’ll fit more into your ideal for this world’s culture. The name doesn’t change the feelin’ in the slightest. The fact that we met only a little bit ago and yet now I couldn’t imagine a future without you won’t change. The fact that watchin’ you is all I ever want to do won’t change. The fact that I’m willin’ to follow you to the ends of Alternia will never change. Is that feelin’ pity? Or is it love? Or are they the same? Does it really matter Kankers? Think about it, do we really need a quadrant for somethin’ like that? Do we need the quadrants at all if the feelin’ is still there?”

Kankri was silent as Cronus spoke, their faces inches apart. Cronus almost seemed desperate, in his eyes Kankri could see that he was resigning himself to being rejected.

Kankri didn’t have an answer for him, and instead turned around, his back to Cronus. He could feel Cronus shift behind him, and the sea dweller began to retract his arms from around Kankri. Kankri grabbed his wrist, pulling his arm back around him. “I don’t have an answer for you,” Kankri said quietly, “But I will when we wake.”  


“You don’t have to give me an answer.”

“I know, but I want to.”

They were quiet for several minutes before Kankri couldn’t help but ask, “You won’t leave me, will you? Regardless of what I say?”

“Well aren’t you a selfish little troll.” Cronus butted his forehead against the back of Kankri’s curls, “Don’t worry chief, I couldn’t leave you if I tried.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the last chapter! Sorry it's not anything spectacular, I'm pretty much done with this fic and want to work on my other ones as well as my own novel. Thanks for all the views and reading it till the end!

When the sun fell beneath the horizon once more Kankri opened his eyes, confused for a moment at the sight of a recuperacoon before him and him not being in it. It then registered in his mind once more of what occurred between him and Cronus in the middle of the day. He didn’t think much of what he was going to say to the sea dweller, only sitting for a moment and contemplating how he felt surrounded by Cronus’ arms. He hadn’t been able to really notice anything besides the smell of the sea when they had spent that week out in the water but Cronus smelt strongly of the air after it rained, mixed with a hint of smoke. It was a comforting smell, one that Kankri wouldn’t get tired of. 

Kankri slipped out of the blanket nest, leaving a sleeping Cronus to dream without him. The cold air was a shock to his senses, leaving the covers had such a drastic difference in temperature. He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself as he padded across the cool floor. Opening the door, he looked down to see a bright red sweater folded neatly on the floor. He had wanted a red jacket but Porrim had insisted on the sweater, saying that it suited him better. Excitement and apprehension ran through him. The color was perfect, so perfect that it almost made him afraid to wear it. By wearing it, he would be accepting his fate and walking in his father’s footsteps. He picked up the sweater and stared at it for a moment, the thick fabric was soft in his hands. 

He would do better than his father; he would succeed. 

He put the sweater on, marveling at the workmanship and how well it was put together for being completed in one day. He opened the closet to grab a pair of his pants and fixed himself up for the night. Before he left he tiptoed back over by Cronus and fixed the covers around him. He didn’t know why he made Cronus wait for an answer, in the dark of the night everything seemed so clear. He gave a final glance to the sea dweller and then left, shutting the door softly behind him.

The sweater was a little large on him, the sleeves ended at his fingers instead of his wrists and the bottom ran down to the middle of his thighs. At least it made the sweater roomy, and the high neck was wonderful to bury his face in. It seemed as though Porrim was hoping he would grow into it, Kankri wasn’t sure if that would ever happen but he supposed it was always good to hope. He made his way down the stairs with the neck pulled over his nose, relishing in his new clothing item and the sense of freedom that had come over him from putting it on.

He jumped down the last few stairs as if he were a wriggler again, startling Mituna who was at the kitchen table. “Oh, sorry Mituna, I got a little carried away.” Kankri said sheepishly. 

Mituna smiled at him, “Thokay, I get thtartled a l-lot. Brakefitht?” Mituna gestured to the pile of still warm pancakes next to him with his screwdriver in hand. He was still trying to fix his four-wheeled device, having made a little more progress than yesterday. 

Kankri joined him, sitting on the opposite side of the table. “Who made this?” He questioned curiously, this place really was, like Mituna said, a home. Breakfast already made in the morning and everything. Of course at his home he had always been the one making breakfast, so it was nice to be on the receiving end.

“Kanya did. Prim tried t-to halp but thee burnth eveything thee cookth.” Mituna laughed and said fondly, “Thee thuckth at cooking.” He scowled at his device when one of the screws refused to cooperate, “Thtupid fecking thing.”

“Do you want any help with that?” Kankri asked curiously. He wasn’t sure what he could really offer, but if he could fix farm machinery surely he could fix such a simple looking object. He also felt as though he were obligated to offer his services.

“No, I tuld Thol I’d fixth thith on my own. He called me uthleth yethterday. I know h-he doethn’t mean it but I thtill wanna prove that luttle thit wrong. Fucking punk ath grub.”

Kankri watched in interest as Mituna filtered through several different emotions, going from one spectrum to another in an instant. Something really had been broken inside of him, though the troll did well to cover up how far the damage actually went. “Is, um, Sol, a friend?”

“Thollux is my lit-tle brother. He workth with the thircuth tho I only g-get to thee him a couple timeth a sweep.”

“The circus is in town? I’ve never seen one before, what exactly goes on at one?”

Mituna slowly put down the screwdriver and looked at Kankri with a dumbfounded look on his face, “How h-have you never theen a fucking thircuth before? That’th crazy. I’ll take you to it today if you’re free.”

“I’d like that, but we have to wait till Cronus is awake.” Kankri smiled at the frown that was suddenly on Mituna’s face, “He’s not all that bad, he’s a special sea dweller. He saved my life, doesn’t that give him a few points?”

“All theadwollers are atholes, but if you want-t him to come den fine, we can wait.” 

They spent the rest of the morning talking about little things, Kankri was genuinely interested in what Mitnua had to say, and Mituna seemed happy to have some one who would listen. It wasn’t too long before Cronus joined them, still half asleep.

“What’s the plan chief?” He asked sleepily, sitting down and slumping over the table next to Kankri. That wonderful scent floated to Kankri again and he smiled.

“We are going to the circus.”

Cronus ran that line through his head a couple times before he sat up and looked at him, squinting, “Come again?”

“You heard me correctly the first time. We are going to partake in merriment and visit the circus so that I may gain knowledge about the fun wonders of the city and civilization.”

“How do you go from joinin’ a revolution to goin’ to a circus? I really don’t understand how your mind works chief, it’s amazin’. Astoundin’ even. One might say, revolutionary, if they dared to try and be a lil’ punny.” 

Kankri stood up and put on a haughty face, one eye closed and the other peeking out at him. “Get your sea dwelling butt moving so that we can go.” 

“Wait, wait, don’t I get breakfast?”

“Those who sleep in don’t get breakfast, all the metaphorical worms for the bird are gone, eaten by those who prioritize their lives.”

“Whose rule is that?”

“Mine, I would have thought that obvious, and since I am the object of your questionable intentions you have to do as I say.” 

“Speakin’ of questionable intentions, you got an answer for me yet?” Cronus grinned up at him, wiggling his eyebrows.

Kankri leaned in, his lips almost grazing Cronus’, when the corners of his mouth curled up, “Let’s see how well you behave yourself.” His confidence was at such a different level than yesterday, though he doubted it had as much to do with the sweater, as it was his new acceptance of his future. He felt so much surer with his life, like he knew what he was doing and where he was going now, instead of just standing still.

Besides, he couldn’t let Cronus think he was the dominant one in this situation. If he wanted to play this game, Kankri would give him a run for his money.

“You little tease.” Cronus pouted.

Mituna lead them out, leaving through a back entrance of the Maryam’s building. Cronus had Kankri don a pair of sunglasses, even though Kankri thought they looked stupid when being worn at night. Cronus wasn’t taking any chances, especially now that Kankri had discovered his rebellious streak and was wearing a sweater brighter than the Alternian sun. 

It was like he was wearing a sign that said, “Hey, come and cull me, I dare you!”

Cronus had a feeling that protecting Kankri just got a lot more difficult.

Mituna lead them through several alleyways, winding his way through the city on a memorized set of paths, tripping over flat surfaces every couple of minutes or so. When they got close to the circus Cronus began to notice little lanterns accumulating in the alleys and very soon they pooled into the streets. The glowing lights were hung everywhere, strung across the road on fish wire and crisscrossing through the night sky like thousands of stars.

Cronus felt as though they were entering a new dimension, everything so different from the night before. The alley they were in broke off into a large square where several brightly colored tents were proudly standing. Other trolls bustled about, gazing at the different attractions in equal amounts of enjoyment. 

“This is incredible.” Kankri said, “No, incredible doesn’t even begin to cover it. This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. How could you bear to leave this?”

Mituna stopped and smiled, people moved around them in the crowd and he looked up at the lanterns for a moment before answering. “Ith the one thing in my life that doethn’t change, tho I c-can leave it knowing it’ll thtill be there when I come back. Even if it-t ithn’t alwayth in thith area, the thircuth will alwayth be a part of my family.”

“What are you thpouting now Tuna?” A slender, tall troll asked, coming up from behind Mituna to give Kankri and Cronus a once over. He paused at Kankri for a second but then disregarded them both in favor of throwing an arm around Mituna’s shoulders and messing up his hair.

“Feck off Thol!” Mituna yelled, trying to release himself from his brotherly prison. 

“No can do Tuna, I’ve been given the job of finding a helper during the act tonight and KK wont do it. You’re my thecond betht option and therefore have no have to come with me.”

“I’m giving Kanki and athbutt a tour, I can’t!” Mituna complained. Sollux looked at them again with a raised eyebrow.

“Well they can come too I thuppothe.”

“I thaid no thit thtain!” 

“What? I couldn’t hear you over all that lithp.”

“Oh my gog, Sollux get your fucking lisping ass back in here to get ready and stop being a shit. Gamzee already volunteered to help you so stop causing trouble you feculent nook whiffer. We start in twenty minutes.” An angry troll chastised from the entrance of the main tent, his arms crossed like he was a scolding parent.

Kankri leaned back against Cronus for a second; unsure of what he was seeing. His brain kept telling him it was impossible and yet his eyes were telling him otherwise.

“Karkat.” The name came out as barely a whisper. One minute he was frozen and the next he was sprinting the short distance between them, grabbing Karkat in a hug that left him without air for several moments.

“Who the fu- Kankri?!” 

Kankri buried his face in the shoulder of his brother’s black sweater, almost identical to his. His sunglasses were knocked off and fell to the ground, forgotten in moments. “I thought you were dead.”

“I still might be if you don’t let me breathe.” 

“You have to suffer for a couple more minutes.” Kankri squeezed him tighter, feeling his eyes starting to water. Regardless of what Karkat said, he was hugging him back just as tight. 

Cronus watched Kankri from a distance, feeling jealousy simmer in his gut. He should be happy for Kankri, right? Then why did he feel so miserable? He forced a smile on his face when Kankri looked back at him. Kankri was happy, that’s all that should matter… right?

Was Kankri still going to need him now?

They followed Karkat and the Captor brothers inside, where Kankri’s brother drew them off to the side to sit down and exchange stories.

“It was Gamzee who found me, that tall juggalo freak over there. He wouldn’t tell me how he got there, proclaiming that it was a motherfuckin ‘miracle’. Everything is a miracle to him so I don’t even bother asking anymore. Apparently he hid while the sea dwellers were on the island, cause his dad finds them annoying. He didn’t want to instigate any trouble otherwise the Grand Highblood would probably want to paint the walls again. After he patched me up I spent most of my time working as his servant in the manor, which was brought to an end as soon as my eyes started changing. Thanks puberty, great timing.”

Karkat sat on an old wooden crate, fingers curled around its edge. Some of the circus crew was setting up for Sollux’s performance, though their “setting up” consisted mainly of Gamzee running around and cleaning under Sollux’s orders. The psychic stood in the center of the arena, his arms crossed while he surveyed the area, every now and then a blue or red spark would crackle from his eyes. Kankri was beginning to suspect it was an impatient tic of his. Sort of like tapping his foot.

Kankri was sitting opposite of Karkat on his own crate with Cronus comfortably squished between his legs. Cronus was resting his head against Kankri’s thigh while he played absentmindedly in the sand. He seemed a little lethargic; Kankri didn’t know what had brought this bout of uncharacteristic independence. Normally in this position Cronus would be playing with his leg, tugging at his hand, anything affectionate, but he was just sitting there. 

Kankri slowly stretched out his fingers, hesitating for only a second before running them through Cronus’ hair. Cronus’ hands stilled as Kankri began a rhythmic petting. His eyes barely strayed from Karkat, but when he glanced down at the sea dweller Cronus seemed to be more relaxed at Kankri’s simple touch.

“When my eyes started to change, even Gamzee agreed it was time to leave. He may not care about blood color, but his dad would have a murderous fit, heavy emphasis on the murder. I expected to just sneak out, solo, in the middle of the night. It isn’t strange for the servants to go missing, but that little fucker Gamzee insisted on going with me. I still don’t understand why, he had a pretty nice life there. After we got out though we had no clue where to go, I wanted to look for you but we didn’t know where to start. We joined the visiting circus and Gamzee began painting his face like that. He’s so fucking excited about it, like it’s the greatest thing in the world to wear that ridiculous mask. Oh well, if he’s happy then I guess I can’t complain. It keeps people from recognizing him which is what really matters.”

Karkat had shifted through his story to look fondly at Gamzee. “He’s got a lot of issues, but he’s one of my best friends. Although he can be annoying as shit at times. Never go to him for advice. Seriously.”

“There’s not much after that. We got involved with the revolution through Sollux and Mituna. They said that I could rescue you and that’s what we’ve been working on until I heard about crabdad.” Karkat looked down, his voice faltering a bit, “That’s when I got more involved, specially with the Maryam’s. I couldn’t sit still. It just… didn’t feel right, you know?”

Kankri knew exactly how Karkat felt.

“We’ve been a part of the revolution ever since, this circus is kind of the communicator between the headquarters. Sollux and I run it. It used to be the Captors’ dad that took care of it, but he’s out of commission so this whole thing has been left to us. I can’t really do anything though, except manage finances and shit. Sollux works constantly in the ring and keeps trying to develop new techniques. The grub works himself too hard if you ask me.”

Sollux, sensing Karkat’s stare, turned to look at their little group and grinned. He could tell exactly what they were talking about from the expression on Karkat’s face. Karkat sneered at him before turning back to Kankri, “Fuckass doesn’t know what’s good for him, that’s for sure.” 

Kankri gave Karkat a look, was there something going on between the two that he should be aware about? A red tint rose up on Karkat’s cheeks and he rolled his eyes, “Anyways. There you have it. My wonderful story.”

“It was a lot more eventful than my own. I only actually got here a couple nights ago, the rest of the time I was staring at a cell wall.” Kankri looked down at Cronus, still petting his head, “It was Cronus here who busted me out after a rather quick series of events.”

Karkat looked at Cronus with a little more respect, “Thanks.” He said sincerely. 

Cronus looked at the ground, unsure of how he felt with Karkat showing him gratitude and feeling a little embarrassed. “Don’t mention it chief, your brother’s saved me in more ways than one.”

They sat in a companionable atmosphere as the audience slowly filed in. Cronus was amazed that the brothers never seemed to stop talking. It was like they had a system; they would switch from insulting to teasing to talking about the weather in moments. He and Eridan always got stuck at the insulting part. 

It was in this moment that Cronus realized all the Vantas’ liked to talk. It wasn’t just Kankri that tended to go on long-winded tangents, he was just more eloquent about it than his brother.

The show ended and Karkat inclined his head towards the entranceway, and Kankri nodded in agreement. The elder Vantas brother stood up and turned around to hold out a hand to Cronus, pulling the sea dweller up beside him. 

“I think I’m gonna sit this one out chief,” Cronus said, patting Kankri on the shoulder, “You Vantas’ have a lot of talkin’ to catch up on apparently, you both could probably write a several thousand page series in small font about how to carry on a conversation with the way your goin’.” He teased.

“But I wanted to… Alright. Where can I meet up with you again?” Kankri asked quietly, Karkat standing to his side and looking at him curiously.

“I’ll be around, probably somewhere by food cause some one didn’t let me eat breakfast.”

“Oh go get something unhealthy already.” Kankri rolled his eyes. Cronus saluted him and they split off as they left the tent, Vantas brothers to the left while Cronus went to the right. 

“I have a feeling that I’d guess correct if I were to say there are feelings a little more than pale between you two.” Karkat said, nudging Kankri in the side with his elbow.

Kankri pushed him away with a grin; “I could say the same for you and your less than secret red crush on a certain psychic. Honestly Karkat, your intentions towards him are rather forward, I’m surprised that you aren’t already in a relationship. You seem rather _triggered_ by his actions.”

Karkat bit his lip, “Shut up, I know, I’m working on it.”

As they fell silent a group of young wrigglers ran past them, waving greasy foods and cheap toys through the air, shoving and competing with each other good naturedly over who’s was better. Karkat and Kankri stared after them, so different from themselves at that age. They didn’t speak about it, but the thought was shared between them, of how it could have been had they both been regular blooded trolls.

“I’m ready to change this place.” Karkat said, “I don’t want another troll to have to live the life I’ve had.”

“I want to be able to have a family without fearing one of them will be culled for being different, myself included.” Kankri agreed.

“There’s only one way we can assure a future for us, the future crabdad wanted.”

“It might not end well.” Kankri reminded him, “Alternia isn’t known to have happy endings. One of us might not even make it to the end, or both of us.” He paused, “I don’t want to lose you again. I just found you, it doesn’t even feel real yet.” He added a lot more quietly, voice soft and tenuous.

Karkat put an arm around Kankri’s shoulder. He had grown since they were last together, they both now stood at the same height. “You couldn’t get rid of me the first time, what makes you think the second time will be any different?” He tapped Kankri’s nose and turned around so they were face to face, his arms on Kankri’s shoulders with his older brother looking at him questioningly. They stood in front of a brightly colored tent, the inside dark.

“I’m already in, and you’re already in. What else is there to question?”

“I’m assuming that’s a rhetorical question and you don’t want me to actually list what else I can question about our current statuses, because I assure you I have a list that I can articulate.”

“Kankri.”

“I suppose. It’s just different now that I know you’re alive…” Kankri looked away, “I have more to lose now.”

Karkat booped him on the nose again, parting from him to enter the tent beside them. “Don’t be selfish.”

“Check your privilege grub.” Kankri called after him, smiling as he rubbed his nose. He turned, scanning the crowd in search of his sea dweller. He walked around the bustling pathways, soon finding Cronus lounging on a bench. The sea dweller had his arms hooked over the back, a lit cigarette in one hand and staring at the night sky. 

Kankri came up from behind him to pluck the cigarette out of his hand, dropping it on the ground to smother it out. “You shouldn’t smoke with so many small wrigglers around, it’s bad for their health.”

“What about my health?”

“You’re old enough to know the consequences.” Kankri leaned over the back of the bench, hands pressed into the faded wood and staring down at Cronus’ face with quirked lips. The sea dweller smiled back for a moment, but then looked troubled, his eyes sliding to the side.

“What’s wrong?” Kankri asked, moving his head to the side so that they made eye contact once more.

“It’s nothin’, how was your talk with Karkat? Did you two get caught up on all your brotherly things and all?”

“Yes we did. Cronus why do you look so sad?”

“Are you plannin’ on runnin’ around with him then? Vantas brothers. Together at last. I’m sure you’re real happy, won’t be needin’ a clingy sea dweller anymore.”

“Have you been drinking?”

“What? No!”

“Cronus, then what has gotten you into this state? I left you for, like, ten minutes!”

“I’m sad Kankers. I’m sad because you know what?” He poked Kankri’s chest, head still leaning back against the back of the bench. “I’m useless Kankri. I’m useless, and you don’t need me. You’ve got big things ahead of you, and I’m not necessary to any of that. I’m unstable and I get jealous over the stupidest of things, and you don’t even like me the same way-“ That was as far as Cronus got before Kankri’s lips were pressed softly against his own and the mutant blood’s hands slowly moved down his arms to intertwine their fingers. 

The kiss lasted for a moment but it succeeded in clearing Cronus’ mind of the past few hours, and he simply melted at Kankri’s touch. Cronus opened his eyes when Kankri released him, hands still held. Cronus licked his lips and grinned sharply up at him. 

“You do feel the same?”

Kankri smiled, leaning down once more so that their eyes were an inch apart. He stared into Cronus’ violet irises, could see the hope in them and the fear. He whispered softly, “I’m sorry I made you wait.”

“I’d say it’s all fine and dandy, but I was really worried.”

Kankri kissed him once more, nibbling his lower lip slightly and then chuckling from his own forwardness, “Cronus, I want you to stay with me forever. I want to stay with you forever.”

“I’m yours chief.”

**_Five Sweeps Later_ **

A revolution is something that can either fail drastically or succeed terribly. It takes a while for a country to change, lifestyles are rewritten, laws are torn, leaders abdicate, and statues crumble. Sometimes many revolutions can start up and nothing will change. Sometimes it only takes a spark to ignite the fire of reform.

Kankri stared across the horizon, his eyes watching as the rays from the giant Alternian sun slowly swept across the hills. He stood in his farm field, bare feet making imprints in the soft dirt, thousands of rows of plants surrounding him. A bag of seeds rested against his leg, almost empty. 

Five sweeps ago they had officially ended the rein of the Empress. He was now 17 sweeps and wasn’t quite the scrawny troll boy he had been before. He had grown up, in more ways than one. 

The Empress was gone, disappearing on her ship after a sweep long war over equality. She just vanished, into the night. With her gone the whole hierarchy was in chaos and several claims were made to the throne before Feferi Peixes stepped up and took charge. At first through force, the only way other trolls would listen, and when the chaos was reigned in she ruled through debate and introduced democracy.

Twelve trolls ruled on a council, one for each blood color. The officials were elected every four sweeps and currently Karkat was one of them. Kankri’s younger brother visited every few months or so to have dinner, but was usually anxious to be back in the city where Karkat was always sure Sollux was up to trouble. They were currently developing new machinery for sailing so that psychics no longer were required to be grafted into ships.

Eridan, much to Sollux’s annoyance, was another council member who surveyed their work every few weeks to calculate how much funds they should receive. The psychic and the sea dweller fought constantly so they could only meet when Karkat was in the same respiteblock.

Eridan was also on a hunt for the former navy commander Dualscar who mysteriously disappeared after visiting the Grand Highblood. Currently the search has turned up no results and Eridan does not expect that to change any time soon.

Speaking of that purple bloodline, Gamzee was a frequent visitor to Kankri’s humble abode. The high blood dropped by about once a week to visit the animals whom he had all given names and to eat Kankri’s cooking which he proclaimed was the “Motherfucking best sustenance he had all up and had the pleasure of putting in his protein chute.” Sometimes bringing a mute companion along, but usually coming alone.

Everything was… in a tentative peace.

“Chief, I don’t think I’m cut out for this line a work.” 

Kankri turned around as an out of breath drawl cut into his thoughts. Cronus was lying in a bare patch of the field, his arms spread out and his shirt clinging to him with sweat. They had been working all night and were so close to being done, although Kankri was pretty sure he could have gotten more done without Cronus there. The sea dweller had to stop and take a break every thirty minutes, complaining from some ache or another.

“You’re just out of shape because you smoke so much, I told you those things were bad for you, and now you’re suffering the consequences. This is why you should listen to me more often.” Kankri put his hands on his hips, looking down at Cronus with a mockingly scolding look.

“Pfff, nah, that’s not it.” Cronus waved a hand lazily in the air, shooing away Kankri’s words. “I think it’s just cause of how active I was all yesterday, yah know, when a certain horny mutant couldn’t keep his mitts off me.”

“Don’t insinuate it like that, you needed a hair cut. Didn’t have to be such a wriggler about it and run around the house, avoiding my scissors.”

“If Karkat gets a beard how come I can’t have a mullet?” Cronus complained once more, it was his main argument the day before.

“Because I don’t have to see Karkat everyday, you’re the one I’m living with.”

He pulled the sea dweller up, dusting off his back out of habit. Cronus caught his hand and pulled Kankri in close, catching him around the waist and stealing his lips. Kankri liked to joke that Cronus would make an excellent thief, for how many kisses he’s stolen. Cronus would always point out that he gave them back tenfold, which meant he was kind of like a banker.

_Damn Kankri, I’m so respectable, how’d you get a sexy banker in your bed?_

Kankri chuckled from the memory, interrupting their kiss as it turned into a full-blown laugh. Cronus looked at him with a raised eyebrow but Kankri just shook his head and grabbed Cronus’ hand, “Come on, I need to make supper.”

“Can’t I just have dessert?”

“You’ll get fat from eating too many sweets.”

“Not with the dessert I had in mind.”

“Oh shush, that kind of dessert is a given.”

“I love you babe.”

“I suppose love you too.”

“Hey!”

“I’m kidding. I love you very much as well.”

“That’s better.”


End file.
